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Col. MARINL S WILLETT. 



THE HERO OF MCHAWK VALLEY. 



AN ADDRESS BEFORE THE 



Oneida Historical Society. 



BY DAKIEL E. WAGER 




UTICA, N. Y. 

PRINTED FOK THE SOCIETY, 

By the Utica Herald Publishing Company. 



1891. 



6V •OAK-t^ffft 

JUN 3 Idio 



COL. MARINUS WILLETT. 



Among tlic.ol)jects <and purjioses for which tlie Oneida Historical 
Society Is organized, are the callection and preservation of 
materials relative to that part of New York formerly known as 
Tryon county. Witliin the scoi)G of this organization is the 
gathering of scant and scattered materials, and weaving them into 
a narrative I'elative to the lives of those who have been prominent 
and foremost in the imiiortant and critical period of the existence 
of the county, and by their valor, patriotism and masterly activity, 
made the valley of the Mohawk historic ground, and given to it a 
national importance in the history of the country. Of all the 
persons who have contributed to this grand result, I think I am 
safe in saying no one stands out more conspicuously than Col. 
jMarinus "NVillett. It may be considered a fortunate conclusion 
that the gathering of materials for a sketch of his life should be 
no longer postponed, for it is evident that each year's delay lessens 
the chances and increases the difficulties of obtaining information 
not already recorded in the well known histories of the times, 
especially facts which can now be found only in unpublished manu- 
scripts, or in the memory of living witnesses. ^ 

In ray correspondence aud inquiries for Tacts I luckily ascertained, 
what is probably known to but a comparatively few, that two sons 
of Col. Willett are yet alive, the one eighty-six and the other 
nearly eighty-eight years of age, with bright minds and unclouded 
intellects, who were able to impart mucli valuable information 
concerning their father, which but for their retentive memories and 
timely aid might have soon passed into hopeless oblivion. 

Aside from the " narrative " of Col. Willett, written or dictated 
mainly, if not entirely by himself after he had attained his 
seventieth birthday, and published in 1831, the next year after his 
death, by the elder of the two sons aforementioned, there is no 
authentic sketch of his life extant. That " narrative " makes no 
mention of his civil career, which was quite a prominent one in 
New York, after the close of the revolutionary war, but has 
reference mainly to some of the more important military events 
with which be was connected: and even as to those, with the 



TOE U3J^ OF CvUv}>i5^^ 



Ji COL. MAEINDS WILLETT. 

becoming modesty of a true soldier, but a brief narration is- 
given. 

But a few copies of that " narrative " are in existence, and those 
very difficult to be obtained. The details are too scant and meager 
to satisfy the longings of those who wish to know more of Col. 
Willett'ri life and character — specially those of Tryon county, 
wherein he achieved his greatest victories, and won his grandest 
triumphs. So, too, the histories of the stirring times in which 
Col. Willett lived have not the space to do more than to mention 
incidentally, or briefly narrate the more prominent events of the 
stormy period of his life. Hence, it has been no easy matter, 
though to me a very pleasurable occupation, to glean from the 
various and widely separated fields of his. active labors materials 
for a paper that will be full and accurate, and do justice to his 
merits and memory, and worthy of preservation in the archives of 
this society. 

Thomas Willett, tlie first one of that family name who crossed 
the Atlantic to make his home in this western world, was born in 
England, where his father and grandfather had been ministers of 
the gospel. He came in the good ship Lion in 1632, when he was 
but twenty-two years of age, and settled in the Plymouth colony, 
not far from the State line of Rliode Island. The records in that 
colony frequently/ mention his name, and furnish evidence that he 
became a ])(n'son of wealth and prominence. In his young man- 
hood he was a surveyor of highways, captain of a military com- 
pany, and held other similar positions. He engaged in mercantile 
pui'suits ; was interested in sea-going vessels ; owned large tracts 
of land, one of which was formed into a township by the name of 
"Swansea." In 1650, while a merchant of Plymouth, he was 
appointed by Peter Stuyvesant, then the Dutch colonial executive 
of New York, one of the boundary commissioners, to settle the 
disputed line between the English and Dutch.' That line was 
adjusted, and has passed into history as the " Hartford boundary 
treaty of 1650." After the English came into power in New 
York, Capt. Willett was appointed one of the councilors of thab 
colony, and held that office from 1665 to 1673. In 1667 he was 
appointed by the English governor, Richard Nichols, the first 
English mayor of New York, from Avhich it would appear he had, 
in the meantime, become a resident of the metropolis. When the 
Dutch, in 1673, regained ascendency in New York, the property 
of Thomas Willett was confiscated ; he died the next year, at the age 



ADDRESS or D. E. WAGEK. 3 

sixty-four years, and his remains werebnried at East Providence, in 
Rliode Island. At page 59 of Lossing's liisLory of the Empire 
State, a /^^hc s/mzYg of Thomas Willetl's signature can be found. 
Pie was the great grandfather of Col. Marinus Willett, whose 
name and fame are so closely and dearly associated with the 
history of Tryon county, dining tl.e stormy period of the revolu- 
tionary struggle. 

Edward Willett (the father of Col. Willett,) was a Quaker and 
a farmer of moderate means, near J.jmaica, on Long Island; at 
that homestead Marinus was born on July 81, 1V40, (old style.) 
He was the second son and child in a family of thirteen children — • 
the same number that was born unto his great grandfather afore- 
mentioned. That father died in J794, at the age of ninety-four 
years, and, although he belonged to a denomination that was on 
principle, opposed to war, yet he was destined to see two of his 
sons, before they were eighteen, enter the military service of their 
country, and the one to become a prominent leader; the other to 
be a lieutenant on an English privateer, and the vessel on which 
he was engaged swept away in a hurricane in the French war of 
1758, and all on board lost at sea. Marinus, until he was nearly 
eighteen years of age, pursued the quiet and peaceful pursuits of 
a farm life at his father's homestead. About that period of his 
life, he was moved by a spirit of self-reliance to leave the paternal 
roof and provide for himself. With a resolute will and a 
determined spirit, and with only twenty shillings in his pocket, ho 
crossed over to New York to seek in that great city employment, 
and, if possible, make his fortune. It was about the time of the 
French war of 1758, when the colonists were greatly excited by 
reason of raising of troops, and the activity of the contending 
forces. In the early spring of that year, three English expeditions 
were being fitted out, with a view to attack the French at different 
points, and drive them out of this country. One of those expedi- 
tions, and in which New York took the greatest interest, was 
under the command of General Abererombie, and to be led by 
him from Albany to lakes George and Cham plain to attack Fort 
Ticonderoga, then garrisoned by 4,000 troops under Montcalm, a 
a field marshal of France. Here were to be raised in the vicinity 
of New York three battalions of 900 men each, to be under tho 
command of Col. Oliver DeLancey, a brother of the acting 
governor of New York. 

It required no great effort to raise the requisite number of 



4 COL. MARINUS WILLETT. 

troops, for the whole country was in commotion, and the people 
running ov^er with enthusiasm. Young Willett caught the prevail- 
ing spirit of the times and, following his own ambition and the 
example of others, he enlisted in the army and raised a company 
of soldiers on Long Island among his neighbors and acquaintances. 
Through the influence of friends, he was appointed second lieu- 
tenant of his company, and, although not then eighteen years old, 
he was as full of patriotism and spirit as those of maturer years. 
In his "narrative" is the following description of the uniform he 
wore on receiving his commission as lieutenant, viz. : " Green coat 
trimmed with silver twist; white under clothes and black gaiters, 
a cocked hat with large black cockade of silk ribbon, with silver 
button and loop." The three battalions were raised, and the first 
week in May the troops left New York in sloops, ascended the 
Hudson to Albany, thence marched overland to Schenectady, and 
for two weeks were employed in patroling the Mohawk to watch 
the settlements and prevent an attack from the French, if one 
should be made in that quarter. Orders then carae to march to 
Lake George, where they arrived the fore part of June, and found 
that active preparations were there going forward to cross the 
lake. The last of the month Gen. Abercrombie arrived, but the 
soul of the expedition and the idol of the army was young Lord 
Howe, then thirty-four years of age; young Willett has left on 
record his high appreciation of the ability and soldierly qualities 
of that gallant officer. Soon after daybreak on Sunday, July 5th, 
the whole army, 16,000 strong, embarked in 1,000 boats, to cross 
Lake George, from its southern extremity, to its northerly shore. 
The day was bright and clear, the soldiers were clad in their scarlet 
coats, and as this armament floated upon the glassy surface of this 
inland sea, accompanied by martial music, while ensigns and 
banners floated in the breeze and glittered in the sunbeams, it 
looked more like a holiday occasion than an army going to battle. 
At dawn the next morning, the troops landed at the north end 
of the lake, some four or five miles from Fort Ticonderoga, 
and while reaching the shore, had a slight skirmish with the occu- 
pants of a French outpost at that point, in which a couple of 
Frenchmen were killed. A few of the Stockbridge tribe of Indians 
accompanied this expedition, and as soon as they saw the two dead 
soldiers they rushed forward and secured their scalps. This was 
young Willett's first experience in witnessing the scalping process, 
but those scenes became fiimiliar to him later in life.. The country 



ADDRESS OF D. E. WAGER. 

between Lake George and Fort Ticonderoga was covered by a 
dense forest and tangled morasses; the troops formed in good 
order, and commenced marcliing by coUunns through the woods. 
Lord Howe led the advance guard, near whom was the regiment 
in which young Willett marched, moving forward to exposed 
points of danger and expecting every moment to fall into an am- 
bush or to. be met by ii strong French force. The eve of battle is 
always one of breathless anxiety, especially to those who have 
never been in an engagement or witnessed one. This was Willett's 
first experience, and he has left an account of his feelings on this 
occasion ; he states that he did not at this time, nor ever subse- 
quently in his life, experience the slightest degree of fear, but on 
the contrary he was quite elated, and his S])irits highly exhilarated 
as the crisis approached. The troops had not proceeded two miles 
before an ambush was discovered near where young Willett was 
marching. A sharp engagement ensued and Lord Howe was soon 
to the front rallying and cheering his men, when he was struck by 
a bullet and instantly killed. The French were dispersed, but the 
sudden death of Howe threw his troops into confusion and disorder. 
There then seemed to be no leader or any one to issue orders. 
The troops wandered about following incompetent guidoSj crossing 
each other's track, and firing at their own friends, mistaking them 
for the foe. While thus moving Willett and his companions 
accidentally fell in with Gen. Abercrombie, who stood under a 
huge tree, with a large cloak wrapped about him, while two regi- 
ments of regular troops were drawn up around his person to guard 
and protect bira from harm. He issued no orders and the troops 
continued to wander the rest of the day, lost and bewildered in the 
woods. As night ovei'took them, they halted and rested until 
morning; on awaking it was found that most of the men had 
encamped near the spot where they had landed from the boats the 
morning before. 

It Avas afternoon before the army was again in motion for Fort 
Ticonderoga, and when three miles from the fort, they halted and 
passed another night in the woods. The next day, which was the 
. 8th of July, the army again started on its march for the fort, and 
about noon was re-enforccd by six hundred Indians under the 
command of Sir William Johnson. But the want of a leader and 
competent guides had not been supplied. The same confusion, 
disorder and bewilderment prevailed, and before the troops wei'e 
aware of it, or knew the danger they were in, they became en- 



6 COL. MARINUS WILLETT. 

tangled in a network of fallen trees, and found tliey were directly 
under the enemy's breastwork?, and exposed to a murderous fire. 
For four or five hours tlie battle raoed, to the great disadvantage 
of the British troops, and it was not imtil sunset the firing ceased, 
and the latter retired to spend another night in the forest, expect- 
ing to renew the attack the next day, before daylight. 

The next morning Lieut. Willett was awakened from a sound 
sleep and told that the army was rapidly making its way to their 
boats, with a view to recross the lake. About eight that morning 
the troops re-embarked, and, although there was no enemy near, 
great confusion and disorder prevailed, and this expedition, which, 
three days before, came with such pomp and splendor, returned in 
disgrace, leaving behind it, killed and wounded, some two thousand 
of its numbers. No doubt Gen. Ab^rcrombie felt mu^li safer 
when he had put thirty-eight miles of Lake George between him- 
jself and Montcalm. 

In that expedition were two other persons prominent in the 
history of New York, and who have been more or less connected 
with affairs in Tryon county. Tlie one was Gen. Philip Schujder, 
•whose name was given to Fort Stanwix during a portion of the 
revolutionary war; the other. Gen. John Bradstreet, a prominent 
officer in the colonial service, and who was, for years, part owaier 
of Cosby's manor, which includes the site of Utica, and whose 
widow, by another marriage, was grandmother to that Martha 
Bradstreet who made her name famous, not only by reason of her 
legal and other abilities, but by the long, tedious and expensive 
litigation which, over half a century ago, she inflicted upon XJticans 
and others, regarding their land titles. Gen. Bradstreet was but 
a major in that expedition, yet he burned with indignation because 
of its shameful failure. At a council of war held at the head of 
the lake the very evening the troops returned from Ticonderoga, 
he urged the adoption of measures that would tend to wipe out or 
relieve the disgraceful blunder. He suggested an expedition 
against P'ort Frontenac (now Kingston,) and offered to lead it. 
Some looked upon such an undertaking as wild and chimerical, 
and its successful execution improbable, for it was considered a . 
strong fortress for tliose times, well supplied Avith men, cannon 
and ammunition; but Bradstreet urged his offer v\'ith so much 
earnestness that Gen. Abercrombie at last reluctantly consented to 
commission him to go and take with him three thousand troops. 
Among the number was young Willett and the regiment to whick 



ADDRESS OF D. E. WAGEII. T 

l»e beloiisferl. The destinntlon was kept secret from all l>ut the 
leadint^ officers. They started the next day and were moved with 
greatest rapidity to Albany, thenoe to the ^lohawk, and they 
"fairly flew," as it is said, up the river in boats, to the " Oneida 
carrying^ place," now the site of Rome. And here let me add, by 
way of ])arenthesis, that besides Schuyler and Willett, who accom- 
panied (xcn. Jiradstreet to Fort Fiontenac, were many others who 
subsequcnlly became noted in the history of this country. Among 
them Nathaniel Woodhull, then a major, subsequently a general in 
the revolutionary array, and the first president of the provincial 
congress. Horatio dates, then a captain and in the revolutionary 
war a brigadier general, and who captiired Burgoyne and his 
army; C>>1. Charles Clinton, then stationed at Fort Herkimer, and 
near seventy years of age ; also his two sons, James Clinton, then 
a captain and twenty-two years old, afterward a general, and his 
brother George, then nineteen years old, and afterwards for 
twenty-five years governor of Xew York; the great war governor 
of the infant State. Although Gen. Bradstrect moved his men up 
the vallej' Avith great celerity, yet it took tvv'o weeks' time for the 
men to pole the boats up tlie river to the "carrying place." On 
reaching this portage, Gen. John Stanwix was found with six 
thousand troop?:, having been previously ordered there to erect a 
formidable fort in the place of Forts Williams, Craven and Bull, 
destroyed two years before. The first two named forts had stood 
upon the banks of the Mohawk, below the bend of that river, a 
little further down stream than the present railroad bridge. Fort 
Bull was upon the lower landing of Wood Creek, some two or 
three miles to the westward of Forts Craven and Williams. 
Across this portage Bradstreet transported his men, boats and 
munitions of war and stores. Adam was constructed across Wood 
Creek, at the upj)er landing near the late United States arsenal, to 
Taise the water of that stream, to aid in floating the loaded boats 
"to Oneida Lake. Two weeks' time was occupied in making these 
preparations, and in removing the fallen trees and other obstruc- 
tions from the creek. These mov'ements indicated to the troops 
the direction of the expedition. The troops started August 14 and 
in six days Oswego was reached; after resting there for a few 
hours to repair the boats, inspect the arms and accoutrements, the 
troops were again on their way passing over the lake, but keeping 
'iiear shore. On the third day after leaving Oswego, the troops 
landed on the evening of the 25th, about two miles from the fort. 



3 COL. MAPdNUS WILLETT. 

and the next day commenced active preparations to take it hy 
storm. Tlie fort' was a square one, fifteen feet liigh, built of stone 
and nearly three-fourths of a mile in circumference, and well pro- 
tected hy cannon; the garrison had no intimation of the approach 
of an enemy, until the British troops appeared before the fortress. 
Breastworks were erected to protect the assailants, and Willett 
was much of the time in exposed points of danger, and one entire 
night he and his men were under a constant tire of grape shot and 
musketry. The siege was continued for three days, and on the 
29th of August the garrison surrendered; the capture included 
sixty cannon, sixteen mortars, a vast amount of small arms, a large 
quantity of powder and balls of all sorts, nine vessels and about 
one hundred men. The magazine was blown up, the buikhngs 
destroyed, and the whole fortress reduced to a heap of rubbish. 
The captured vessels were used to transport the stores to Oswego, 
and there burned to the w^ater's edge. The capture of this fort 
was considered at the time, as one of the greatest blows inflicted 
upon the French in America, considering the consequences, as that 
fort was the storehouse from which other forts to the south were 
supplied. It reflected great credit upon Bradstreet and his men, 
although it involved incessant toil, great fatigue and hardship, and 
a great sacrifice of human life. When Oswego Falls (now Fulton) 
was reached by the troops on their return from Oswego, it took 
the men three days to drag the boats and stores over that portage 
of a mile, and so excessive was the labor, and so great the fatigue 
and exposure of the men in the whole expedition that near one 
hundred deaths occurred at that point, and when Fort Bull was 
reached half of the men were unfit for duty. It required four 
days to transport the boats and stores from Wood Creek across 
the portage at Rome, to the Mohawk, and by that time the men 
were completely exhausted. Smith's Colonial History of New 
York says that five hundred men died and were buried at this 
"carrying place." The cause of these deaths and sickness, is 
attributed to the stagnant water of Wood Creek, the exposure and 
fatigue of the men, and the haste in cooking the food. 

The expedition on its return, reached Fort Stanwix September 
10, and that very night young Willett was taken ill and confined 
to' his tent until November by a dangerous illness. As before 
stated, that was the season Fort Stanwix was constructed. The 
work was commenced August 23 and completed November 15, 
1758. It was a square work, bounded by what are now Domiuick, 



ADDRESS OF I). E. WAGEIJ. 9 

Spring and Liberty streets, and was about 20 rods westerlj^ from 
the Mohawk. It was surrounded by a deep, wide ditch, with long 
pickets in the center, sharpened at the top, and a row of horizontal 
ones projected from the embankment. It w\as among the most 
formidable structures of the times and cost the British govern- 
ment over $206,000. 

After Lieutenant Willett partially recovered his health and 
strength he was put in a boat and taken down the river to Schen- 
ectady; thence overland to Albany where he remained until 
December 1. The ice in the meantime having left the Hudson, he 
went down that river in a boat and reached New York the 7th of 
December, just seven months to a day from the time he had h ft 
that city in such good health and high spirits to join Abercrom- 
bie's expedition. His feeble health and the wishes of his friends 
prevented his taking any further part in the war. In fact, that 
war was near its close, for the success of the British arms the 
next year, the taking of Quebec in September, witnessed the 
culminating genius and crowning glory of Wolfe, and the valor 
and heroic death of Montcalm, and practically put an end to 
French domination on this continent. 

I have not learned the occupation of Col. Willett between the 
close of the French war and the commencement of the revolution. 
The eldest son writes me, that he never heard it mentioned, but 
that when he Avas a lad, a piece of household furniture was 
pointed out in the dwelling as the workmanship of his father, 
which leads to the inference that Col. Willett might have been a 
cabinetmaker in his early manhood ; but nothing further has been 
ascertained. Certain it is, however, that in whatever vocations he 
engaged, he was always abreast of the times and kept himself 
well informed as to politics and the current events of the day, and 
was ever found arrayed on the side of freedom and the rights of 
man. 

In 1765 occurred the popular and universal outbreak in the 
colonies, caused by the threatened enforcement of the odious stamp 
act; but for the timely repeal of that law, the revolutionary 
conflict in the colonies, might have been precipitated ten years 
sooner than it was. In October, 1765, while a colonial congress of 
delegates was in session in New York city, a vessel arrived in 
port, bringing the obnoxious stamps. The law was to go into 
effect November 1. The stamps were unloaded from the'' vessel 
and hurriedly conveyed to and lodged in the fort in that city, then 



10 COL. MARnS'US WILLETT. 

^•arrisoned by British troops. A body of men called "The Sons 
of Liberty" were orajanized and among the prominent leaders, 
was young Marinus Willett, then twenty-five years old. When it 
was known the stamps had arrived and lodged in the fort, the 
whole city was in commotion ; a large and tumultuous assemblage 
convened in the present city hall pai-k, a gallows was erected and 
on it was hung an efligy of Gov. Colden. Another effigy of the 
governor was borne by an excited and exasperated crowd through 
the streets to the gate of the fort where soldiers were drawn up on 
the ramparts, but dare not fire. The stamps were demanded of 
the governor who refused to give them up, whereupon his carriage 
was seized, his effigy set upon it, the crowd marched to the battery, 
spiked the cannon and there burned carriage and effigy to ashes. 
The house of Major James, the commander of the royal artillery 
was attacked and gutted and the contents destroyed by fire and 
the colors of the regiment carried off by the populace. The feel- 
ing was so intense and the excitement so great, the collector 
appointed to sell the stamps was afraid to act and resigned and 
no one dare use them. The people were appeased by assurances 
that the stamps sliould not be used, and in four months that law 
was repealed, never having been executed in any of the colonies. 
It was in times like these that young WUlett took his first lessons 
in patriotism and learned to vindicate the rights of the people and 
prepared himself as an important factor in the revolutionary strug- 
gle which achieved American independence. 

On Sunday, April 23, 1775, rumors spread through the city of 
New York that there had been a conflict between the people and 
the troops the Wednesday before at Lexington and Concord. The 
gale that carried that news over the land was but the slightest 
breeze of the approaching spirit of the storm. The feeling which 
incited brave old Gen. Putnam to unhitch his team in the field 
where he was at work, leave the plow in the furrow, mount his 
horse and tear along the highway for one hundred miles to be- 
leaguered Boston was the same which then spread itself into every 
hamlet throughout this broad land. The people of New York 
city, as if moved by one impulse, proceeded to the arsenal, forced 
open the door, took possession of six hundred muskets with 
bayonets and cartridge boxes and balls, and distributed these arms 
among the most active of the citizens; they formed themselves 
into a committee of safety and assumed the control of the city 
government. They took possession of the custom house and of all 



ADDRESS OF D. E. WAGER. 11 

the public stores, cut loose two transports at the wharf, emptied 
tffe vessels hnleu with provisions for J-Joston of their contents, 
seized the powder house, attempted to take possession of the maga- 
zine, published a declaration that no vessel should leave the fort 
for Boston; formed themselves into military companies and paraded 
the streets, but apparently with no definite object in view. 

In the midst of this general commotion orders came from the 
British commander for the troops to proceed to Boston. The 
execution of this order could easily have been prevented, but for 
the timidity of some who were afraid to provoke a collision. The 
citizens held a meeting and agreed to allow the soldiers to depart 
with their own arms and accoutrements, but nothing else. One 
fine morning news spread like wildfire that the troops were em- 
barking and were carrying off cartloads of chests of arms. Young 
Willet!, who was one of the most active of the ])atriots, started 
out in one direction to notify his friends what was going on; 
•while crossing Broad street he noticed the troops with five cart- 
loads of arms coming down that street; without waiting for aid or 
advice he proceeded up the street, met the carts, took the foremost 
horse by the head. This brought things to a halt, and the major 
in command came forward to learn the cause; soon a crowd col- 
lected, and some of the committee opposed, and some approved 
the course of young Willett. Being encouraged and advised by 
his friends he mounted a cart, made a brief, stirring speech which 
was loudly cheered. lie then turned the head of the forward 
horse into another street, those behind followed, and all of the carts 
were driven to a vacant lot and a ball alley on John street, and 
thus the arms were prevented from leaving the city. Those arms 
and those taken possession of when the news of the battle of 
Lexington first reached the city were used by the first troops 
raised in New York under the orders of Congress. The troops 
meeting with no other obstacle marched to the wharf ar.d em- 
barked for Boston amid the hisses of an excited people. This 
prompt and decided action of the citizens struck dismay to the 
hearts of the adherents of the crown, gave them a foretaste of 
'what might be expected, and at the same time, made the recruiting 
of troops for the colonies a much easier task. 

By order of Congress, the colony of New York was required to 
raise four regiments, each to consist of ten companies and eacli 
company to be com])osed of some seventy-two men, making about 
3,000 troops to be raised in New York. Of this number New 



13 COL. MARmUS WILLETT. 

York city was to raise one regimeut. Each regiment was to be 
commanded by a colonel, a lieutenant-colonel and a majdi. 
Alexander McDougall was colonel of tlie first New York regiment, 
and young Willett was appointed second captain. He received 
his appointment June 28, 1775. He was then in his thirty-fifth 
year, and as he says in his " narrative," his health, strength, 
buoyancy of spirit and enthusiasm were his principal qualifications. 
His company was one of the first recruited and ready to take the 
field. Colonel Ethan Allen, the May preceding, had captured 
Ticonderoga in "the name of the Great Jehovah and the Con- 
tinental Congress," and this was considered the key to tlie gate- 
way of Canada, and had mucli to do in turning the attention of 
Congress, Washington, General Scliuyler and others in this 
direction, as the proper one for the invasion of th;it province 
There was a garri^^on of some 500 men at St. Johns on this route 
to Canada; another force at Chatnblee, lower down the river, and 
some 300 tories and Indians at Montreal, which constituted 
about all of the efl:ective troops of the British in Canada. It was 
believed all of these places and troops could be captured and 
Canada thereby prevailed upon to link its fortunes with the 
thirteen colonies. On the 8th of August, 1775, Willett and his 
men took passage in a sloop up the Hudson, and reached Albany 
after a passage of four days. They were armed with the muskets 
which Willett had taken from the enemy, as before stated. At 
Albany this company was joined by three others, and there 
reviewed by General Montgomery, who was to accompany them. 
Their destination was Canada, via Lake Chjmplain. They reached 
Ticonderoga in the course of two weeks, and were on the same 
grounds occupied by Willett w^hen he was in the Hrst battle 
seventeen years before. On the 29th of August 1,000 troops 
under Gen. Montgomery embarked in boats, proceeded down the 
lake, and on the 4th of September they were joined at He Aux 
Noix, at the foot of the lake, by Gen. Schuyler. The 6th they 
proceeded to St. Johns, but found it too well fortified to take it by- 
storm, with the small force and light guns of the Americans, and 
the next day they returned to the island. On the 10th of the 
month Gen. Montgomery, with 1,000 men, again proceeded to St. 
Johns, and landed just at dusk two miles from the fort. A 
detachment of 500 men, with which was young Willett, was sent 
below the fort to cut off the sui)plies of the enemy. This expedi- 
tion, by reason of the bad conduct of the colonel in command^ 



ADDRESS OF D, E. WAGER. 13 

"was unsuccessful, and again the troops returned to tlie island. 
Here they remained for a week. 

When the American force was augmented to 2,000 men, and 
had received an additional supply of ammunition and larger 
guns, the army again embarked for St. Joinis, under Gen. Mont- 
gomery, and late in the day landed at the place where tlie troops 
first disembarked. Again a detachment of 500 men was ordered 
below the fort, and this time Gen. Montgomery accompanied it, 
and it was successful in' taking position and planting batteries. 
The siege slowly continued, large guns arrived and the garrison 
was severely annoyed. There was a fort at Chamblee, tv/elve 
miles from St. Johns, lower down the River Sorel, and on the 
route to Canada, garrisoned by abotit 170 men, A detachment 
was sent to lay siege to that fort, and in less than two days, on 
October 18th, it surrendered with 168 men, seventeen cannon, six 
tons of powder. The colors of the seventh regiment were also 
captured and sent as a trophy to Congress, This capture was of 
great benefit to the besiegers of St, Johns. Nevertheless that 
garrison held out bravely, but on the 3d of November, after a 
siege of fifty days, that fort surrendered, and the prize was 500 
regular troops and 100 Canadians (among whom were some of the 
French gentry) and a large quantity of military stores. This was 
indeed a great success and was received by Congress and the 
country with feelings of delight; and well it might, for the troops 
were raw and undisciplined, tlie army supplies scant, the weather 
cold and rainy, the grounds where the troops encamped damp and 
iinhealth}', yet, in spite of all, a great victory was achieved, 
Cajit. Willett was charged with the duty of escorting the prisoners 
to Ticonderoga, while Gen, Montgomery pushed on w^ith an armed 
force to Montreal. As soon as the prisoners were safely placed in 
Fort Ticonderoga, Willett hastened to Montreal, and arrived there 
November 22, ten days after ^Montgomery had reached that place. 
The latter ordered Capt. Willett to return to St, Johns and take 
the command of that fort. This showed the high appreciation in 
which he was held by his superior officer, Willett remained at St. 
Johns until in January, 1776, when the term of the enlistment of 
his troops having expired, he was relieved and again went to 
Montreal. On the 18th of February, by order of Gen, Mont- 
gomery, he left that place for Albany in charge of British officers 
and their families, and reached the latter place the last of the 
month. On the 1st of March he set out on horseback for New 
York, where he arrived the 5th. 



14 COL. MAKINUS WILLETT. 

The war having now assumed a severer aspect than was supposed 
by many it would, it was found necessary to raise more troops 
with longer terms of enlistment. New York was required in 1776 
to raise four battalions. Of the Third New York Regiment thus 
raised, Peter Gansevoort of Albany was appointed colonel and 
Marinus Willett lieutenant-colonel. The latter received his 
appointment the latter part of November, 1776, and with his 
appointment came orders to repair to Fishkill on the Hudson to 
recruit for his regiment. He was diligently employed there all winter 
in recruiting, drilling and clothing the men, and getting ready for 
the coming campaign. At the opening of the spring of 1777, Col. 
Willitt was ordered to take charge of Fort Constitution, opposite 
what is now West Point. It was so called because of the measure* 
then being taken to form a state constitution for New York. 
During the whole war of the revolution it was a favorite scheme 
of the British government to obtain control of the Hudson, estab- 
lish a chain of forts along that river and keep open a communica- 
tion between New York city and Canada. As soon as the ice was 
out of the Hudson, about the middle of March, 1777, sloops loaded 
with troops, started up that river to capture Forts Clinton and 
Montgomery and Peekskill. A body of troops landed at the 
latter place, set fire to the wharf and buildings, and made such a 
formidable demonstration as to cause the American commander at 
that port (Col. McDougall) to move the army stores to a place of 
safety, and his troops to the passes in the highlands, and to send 
to Col. Willett for help. The express reached the latter on Sun- 
day, March 23, while Col. Willett's men were out parading for a 
field review. The troops hurried to Peekskill and took post on an 
eminence that commanded a full view of the surrounding country. 
The practiced eye of Col. Willett noticed that a detachment of 100 
men was separated from the main army of the enf?my by a ravine, 
and he conceived the project of cutting them oflfand capturing the 
detachment; he took a circuitous route, crossed fences and other 
obstructions, but, as it was near dark and the detachment fled so 
precipitately to the shipping, he was unsuccessful. He captured, 
however, baggage, which had been left, consisting of blankets and 
cloaks; a blue camlet cloak, captured on that occasion, served 
afterwards to make the blue stripes to the flag that was first 
hoisted over Fort Stanwix, as will be hereafter narrated. The 
enemy were thoroughly frightened and took refuge on board of 
the ships, weighed anchor, and by the light of the moon, the whole 



ADDRESS OF D. E, AVAGER. 15 

squadron swept clown the Hudson back to the city. Col. Willeti 
returned to Fort Constitution and there remained until May 18, 
■when he was ordered to Fort Stanwix. He set out with his regi- 
ment in three sloops, and, in three days, reached Albany, thence 
up the Mohawk in boats, and arrived at Fort Stanwix May 29, 
nineteen years later than his first visit under Gen. Bradstreet. 
Col. Gansevoort had precL'ded him in the arrival at that fort, and 
was chief in command. In 177G Washington saw the importance 
of Fort Stanwix, and wrote to Gen. Schuyler, in command of the 
northern frontier of New York, that Fort Stanwix should be put 
in repair and in a state of defense, but it seems, however, that bu.t 
little was done. It was known early in the year 1777 that the 
British plan of the campaign for that year was for an army to 
enter New York via Lake Cham plain, proceed to Albany, and to 
meet Gen, Howe, who was to go up the Hudson with his forces. 
It was to carry out that plan and to capture the forts on the 
Hudson that the incursion was made to Peekskill in March, 1777, 
as before stated. It was a part of the same plan for another force 
to proceed from Canada, via Oswego, Oneida Lake and Wood 
Creek, capture and garrison Fort Stanwix, proceed down the 
Mohawk, overrun the settlements of the valley and join the other 
British troops at Albany, This plan, if successful, Avould have 
been the death knell of American independence, as it would have 
separated the New England colonies from the other provinces and 
put the settlements of Tryon county at the mercy of the Tories. 

When Col. Willett reached Fort Stanwix he found it was greatly 
out of repair; the ditch was filled up, the embankments crumbled 
away, the pickets had rotted down and the barracks and magazine 
gone to ruin. It is hardly worth while to relate in this connection 
the difficulties attending the repairs, the inefiiciency, if not the 
culpable heedlessness, of the engineer in charge, a detection of his 
blunders by Col. Willett, and his arrest and dismissal to Gen. 
Schuyler at Albany, and the necessity of doing over again much, 
of the wori<, and how it was not completed when the enemy 
arrived; all of these have been pretty fully narrated in the general, 
as well as the local history of the times. About five p. m., August 
2, batteaux loaded with supplies for the garrison and guarded by 
200 men, reached the landing place on the Mohawk from down the 
river, and barely had time to get within the fort when an advance 
guard of sixty men of the enemy ajjpeared in the skirt of the 
woods from the direction of Fort Bull. In fact, the captain had 



16 COL. MAEINUS WILLETT. 

carelessly lingered behind and was taken prisoner. The garrison, 
"by this 200 addition, consisted of 750 men, with six weeks' provi- 
sion, but a scanty supply of powder — enough for six weeks if only 
nine cannon were fired each day. For a flag, this fort was up to 
that time without one. The garrison heard, doubtlesi?, in due 
time, in this far-otf wilderness, the kind of flag Congress, on the 
14th of June preceding, had adopted as the emblem of the nation 
that was to be, and, as necessity is the mother of invention, the 
troops devised the means for making a flag of the regulation style. 
For the white stripes shirts were cut up; to make the blue, the 
camlet cloak was used, captured by Col. Wiilett in March before, 
and for the red, old garments found by the garrison were impro- 
vised; some authorities say, the red was made from a petticoat, 
captured at the time of the camlet cloak. The army that was to 
come by way of Oswego, was under the command of Gen. St. 
Leger, of the regular army, and under him was Sir John Johnson 
in command of the Tories, and Brant in command of the savages — 
about 1,000 in all. That force started from Montreal about June 
21st, proceeded down the St. Lawrence, across Lake Ontario to 
Oswego, where it arrived about July 25th, and left the 28th for 
Oneida Lake, reaching the mouth of Wood Creek August 1st. 
After the troops left Oswego, their progress was closely watched 
and daily reported to the garrison, by the friendly Oneidas, so that 
Col. Wiilett knew to a day when the army would arrive at Fort 
Stanwix. An advance guard of sixty men under Lieut.- Bird were 
sent forward by St. Leger, to formally invest the fort, and that 
detachment arrived a little after five in the afternoon as heretofore 
stated. On Sunday, August 3d, the remainder of the enemy 
reached the upper landing on Wood Creek (the site of the late 
United States arsenal) and there formed into line, to march with 
pomp 'and display over the intervening space to the fort. The day 
was bright and clear, and the pathway over the portage of sufti- 
cient width to enable the troops to show ofi" to good advantage. 
The garrison were purposely paraded on the ramparts, not to fire, 
Tout to view the class of troops they were to meet, and to observe 
their movements and count their numbers. Not a gun was fired on 
either side. The garrison simply watched and counted. The martial 
music was first heard, next came in sight the scarlet uniforms, and 
then the burnished firearms of the i'cgular soldiers, the glittering 
tomahawks of the savages, and the wild feathers waving and 
tossing on their head gear. As they advanced the regular troops 



ADDRESS OF, D. E. WAGEK. 1*^ 

-marched with precision and stately tread, deploying to the right 
and left, while the Indians spread out on the flanks, and with yells 
and war whoops made the forest resound with their leverberatious 
that drowned the sound of the bugle and tlie drum. In the midst 
of all, banners, ensigns and streamers floated to the breeze, and the 
whole display was intended to strike terror to the hearts of the 
garrison, but it had the opposite ettect. They comprehended the 
situation, and saw the kind of foe they were to meet. St. Leo-er 
placed a portion of his troops on the site of the late United Stales 
arsenal ; another portion, with cannon and mortar with which to 
shell the fort, upon the rise of ground now occupied by St. Peter's 
Church. Sir John Johnson and his to.ies were stationed southeast 
of the fort, near the bend of the Mohawk, below where the railroad 
bridge now crosses that stream, and out of the reach of the guus 
of the fort, while the Indian camps were in the woods near the site 
now occupied by the railroad freight house; the river a few rods 
easterly, prevented the garrison from escaping in that direction 
It will thus be seen how closely the investure was made, and how 
snugly the garrison was cooped up within the iortifications Very 
early on the morning of Monday, August 4, a brisk fire from the 
rifles of the Indians was commenced, which annoyed the o-arrison 
in their work on the parapets. The greater part of the'oth was 
occupied by both sides in tiring at each other. Soon after dark of 
that evening the Indians spread themselves through the woods 
completely encircling the fort, and almost the entire nioht kept 
up terrific yelling, so as to keep the garrison awake ancf on the 
qui V eve. Early on the morning of Wednesday, August 6, it was 
noticed that the Indian and Sir John Johnson's camps were nearly 
deserted, and that the enemy were stealthily stealing alono- the 
edge of the woods, on the south side of the river, towanl Oriskany 
Ihe reason for this movement was not guessed by the garrison 
for the Americans were not then aware that Herkimer was comin- 
to their relief. About eleven in the forenoon two men sent by 
(.en Herkimer two days before, succeeded in eluding the vi<.ilance 
oi the besiegers and in getting into the fort. They brouo^it the 
^^^y.^^ ot Gen. Herkimer's approach, and it was then evidcmt that 
the Indians and Tories had gone down the river to intercept the 
coming troops. Then it was that Gen. Gansevoort resolved to 
make a sortie and attack the two camps that had been partially 
deserted The men within the fort were paraded in a square and 
the intelligence of Herkimer's coming was communicated to them 



18 COL. MAKINUS WILLETT. 

Col. Willett, who was to lead the sortie, went down into the es- 
planade and addressed the men substantially as follows: "Soldier?, 
you have heard that Gen. Herkimer is on his march to our relief. 
The commanding officer feels satisfied that the Tories and Queen's 
rangers have stolen off in the night with Brant and his Mohawks 
to meet him. The camp of Sir John is therefore weakened. As 
many of you as feel willing to follow me in an attack upon it, and 
are not afraid to die for liberty, Avill shoulder your arms and step 
out one pace in front." Two hundred men obey* d the impulse 
almost at the same moment ; fifty more with a three pounder were 
soon added. A rain storm nearly at that instant came up, which 
delayed the sortie until three p. m., but as soon as the storm ceased 
the men issued from the sally port at a brisk pace, and rushing 
down on Sir John .Johnson's camp, near the bend of the river, 
below the present railroad bridge, carried it at the point of the 
bayonet, drove the enemy into and across the Mohawk at that 
point, and captured a large amount of army stores and a number 
of prisoners, among whom was Col. Singleton, who was at the 
battle of Oriskany a few hours before, but had returned to camp 
in the meantime. He informed Col. Willett, as the latter states in 
his "narrative," that Sir John was also in camp, and fled across 
the river. If this was correct information, Sir John must also 
have returned from Oriskany, for the reliable accounts show he 
was in that battle. After Sir John's camp was scattered, Col. 
Willett turned his attention to the Indian camp, on or near the site 
of the present railroad freight house, and soon drove the Indians 
into the woods. When St. Leger, at his camp on the present site 
of St. Peter's Church, learned of the sortie he hurriedly crossed 
the Mohawk at that point and followed doAvn stream to where 
"Factory Village " now is, on the opposite side from the fort, with 
a view to cut off Col. Willett's return. St. Leger had two brass 
field pieces, and, partly concealed in a thicket on the east side of 
the river, he opened a brisk fire on Col. Willett's men, but the 
latter returned it so effectively that they soon put St. Leger's force 
to flight and returned to the fort; without the loss of a single man. 
Col. Willett captured twenty-one wagotdoads of supplies, with 
five British flags, all of Sir John's papers, including his orderly- 
book, and also letters from down the valley, which were being 
sent to the garrison from their friends, and which had been cap- 
tured from Gen. Herkimer a few hours before, but which the 
enemy had not opened. The following is what Col, Willett says 



ADDRESS OF D. E. WAGER. 19 

in his "narrative" was done on liis return to the fort: "The five 
flags taken from the enemy were hoisted on tlie flagstaff, under the 
Continental flag, when all the troops in the garrison, having 
mounted the parapets, gave three as hearty cheers as perhaps 
were ever given by the s;ime number of men." That account by 
Col. Willett himself establishes the fact that a fl ig of the regula- 
tion kind, (as he calls it the Continental flag) as adopted by Con- 
gress, was raised on Fort Stanwix as early as August 6, 1777. I 
have not seen in any historical work that a flag us ordered by- 
Congress was raised within the thirteen colonies prior to that 
time. 

In the afternoon of Thursday, August 7, a white flag from the 
enemy approached t!ie fort, accompanied by three oflicers, with a 
request they might enter with a message from St. Leger. Per- 
mission was granted, and, according to custom, they were first 
blindfolded and then conducted into the dining-room, where the 
windows were darkened, candles lighted, the table spread with 
some light refreshments, and they were then received by Col. Gansc- 
voort in the presence of his oflicers. The bandage wa,s then 
femoved from the eyes of the British oflicers and the principal 
speaker (Major i^ncram) made known his errand, tiie purj)ort 
of which was a demand of the surrender of the fort, accompanied 
by intimations that if surrendered the prisoners would be treated 
humanely, but if taken by force St. Leger would not hold himself 
responsible for the acts of cruelty of the Indians. Col. Willett 
was deputed to reply in behalf of the garrison and no one had 
more fire or greater spirit or was better qualified to speak on that 
occasion. lie looked Major Ancrara full in the face and with an 
earnestness and emphasis that admitted of no mistake or equivo- 
cation said in substance: "This garrison is committed to our 
charge and we will take care of it. After you get out of the fort 
you may turn around and look at its outside, but never expect to 
come in again unless you come a prisoner. I consider the message 
you have brought a degrading one lor a British officer to send and 
by no means reputable for a British officer to carry. For my own 
part, I declare that before I would consent to deliver this garrison 
to such a murdering set as your army, by your own account 
consists of, I would suffer my bodi/ to be jilled loith splinters and 
set onfire^^s you know has at times been practiced by such hordes 
of women and children killers as belong to your army." These 
sentiments were re-echoed with applause by all officers present of 



20 COL. MARINUS WILLETT. 

the garrison, A cessation of bostililies for three clays was agreed 
upon. As nothing had been heard from down the valley since the 
battle of Oriskany the garrison was getting uneasy. They needed 
more amunition and might soon need provisions. It was discussed 
within the fort that if Coh Willett, who was very popular in the 
Tryon County settlements, could show himself there a spirit of 
enthusiasm would be awakened and they would rally to the relief 
of the fort. Influenced by these considerations Col. Willett 
agreed to make the hazardous attempt to reach the people down 
the river. Accordingly, at ten o'clock at night, Sunday, August 
10, he, accompanied by Lieut. Stockwell, a good woodsman, each 
armed with a spear eight feet long, as his only weapon, with no 
provisions but crackers and cheese in their pockets and a quart 
canteen of spirits, no baggage or blankets, stole silently out of 
the sally ])ort, crossed the river by crawling on a log, and when 
on the opposite side of the stream, where "Factory Village" now 
is, it was pitch dark and they in the middle of a thick forest. In 
rambling aboiit they lost their way and bearings and became 
alarmed by the barking of a dog not far away. They were near 
an Indian camp, some of the Indians having taken a position on 
that side of the river after the sortie of Col. Willett. They stood 
perfectly still by the side of a large tree, not venturing to move 
for hours and until the morning star appeared. They then took a 
northerly course and struck the Mohawk again not far from what 
is now known as the " Ridge," two miles north of the fort. They 
kept close to the river, w^adcd in it, and some of the way crossed 
over from one side to the other, so as to conceal their trail and not 
be followed. They pursued this course for several hours and then 
turned easterlj'^to strike the settlements down the river. In those 
days the Indian path was south of the Mohawk and seldom, if 
ever, was there traveling in the pathless woods north of that 
Btream; nevertheless when night came those two dare not strike a 
£re or a light, lest it mJght attrnct attention of prowling Indians; 
and so they camped in the thicket, without fire, light, blankets or 
covering. At peep of day they were on their feet, although both 
"were tired, lame and sore lor the day's travelirg, and night's chill, 
and Col. Willett's rhcumatisjn, yet they kept on their journey, but 
eteered more southerly, and about nine in the morning they struck 
a heavy w^indfall where were growing large patches of ripe black- 
berries. From this luscious fruit and the crackers and cheese 
and sj)irits the two had a hearty breakfast. The sun and points o£ 



ADDRESS OF D. E. WAGER. 21 

compass were observed and witliout other guides they struck Fort 
Dayton (now Herkimer vilhisje) about three in the afternoon, 
having traversed a distance of (ifty miles through an unknown 
forest, crossing streams and morasses, climbing hiils and sur- 
mounting many other obstacles. The general route those two 
traveled is indicated as above by Col. Willett's "narrative;" it 
must have been northerly of Floyd Corners, througli Trenton and 
into Russia, Flerkimcr County. "Simna's Frontiersmen of New 
York" says that years before the revolution a hurricane began in 
the westerly part of Oneida County and swept through the forest 
in an easterly direction across the present towns of Camden and 
Trenton, entering Herkimer County at a place called the 
" dugway " in Poland, and continued onward through the towns 
of Russia, Salsbury and Norway — extending a distance of fifty 
or sixty miles in length. Its breadth ranged from 60 to 100 rods 
and so great was its fury that almost every ti'ee in its course was 
torn up by the roots. Its traces were visible for more than half a 
century afterward and a portion of the ground over wliich that 
tornado passed is called "the hurricane" to this day. It was 
doubtless in the track of that tornado Col. Willelt found 
those patches of berries. Jones' Annals of Oneida county, state, 
that in the month of that siege, a hurricane of tremendous power 
passed through Westmoreland from west to east — its ravages 
extended from Oneida L ike to Coopsrstown, half a mile and in 
some places a mile in width, prostrating the entire forest in its 
sweep ; the severest eifects were in that town. If both of those 
historical accounts of tornadoes are correct, there were two of 
them, six or seven ye:irs apart, passing over this county, one north 
and the other souih of the Mohawk. 

On the arrival of Col Willett and Lieut. Stockvvell at Fort 
Dayton, it was ascertained that Gen. Schuyler had ordered a 
brigade of Massachusetts troops, stationed some ten miles above 
Albany, to the relief of Fort Stanwix, and that Gen. Arnold was 
to be in comm;ind. Having rested for one night, Col. Willett and 
Lieut. Stockwell started early the next morning for Albany, on 
horseback to meet the troops and interview Gen. xVrnold. The 
troops were met the same evening on their way. It was then 
learned that the First New York Regiment was also on its way to 
relieve the fort. On Saturday, August 16, Gen. Arnold and Col* 
Willett reached Fort Dayton, were the troops were assembled; 
on the way from Albany, Col. W. stopped to see Gen. Herkimer 



22 COL. MARINUS WILLETT. 

at his residence near Little Falls, who that day had his leg am- 
putated by reason of the injury in the battle at Oriskany ten days 
before; the latter died next day after the anputation. About the 
time tliat Col. Willett started down the valley for assistance, 
Walter N. Butler, a tory, who was in the battle of Oriskany, and 
was in the seige of Fort Stanwix, also went down to the Mohawk 
Settlements to rally his Tory friends. A number of them had 
assembled by appointment on Friday evening, August 15, at the 
house of one Shoemaker, one of the king's justices of the peace 
of Tryon county, there to be addressed by Butler. Shoemaker 
then resided at or near what is now Mohawk village, nearly 
opposite Herkimer village. The garrison of Fort Dayton received 
news of the assemblage and a detachment was sent to surround 
the house and capture the inmates. "When Butler was in the 
midst of his harangue, the detachment swooped down upon the as- 
semblage, and captured the whole posse, consisting of six or eight 
soldiers, and as many Indians, besides a number of tories, among 
whom was an ignorant, halfwitted fellow by the name of Han Yost 
Schuyler. Gen. Arnold at once ordered a court martial to try 
Butler and Schuyler as spies, for being found within the American 
lines. Col. Willett was appointed judge advocate; the two were 
convicted and sentenced to be executed. Gen. Arnold approved 
the sentence and ordered the execution to take place the next 
morning. Through the intei cession of friends, the sentence of 
Butler was resi^iled and he sent to Albany as a prisoner. Through 
carelessness or treachery he subsequently escaped and fled to 
Canada, and for years thereafter was the greatest scourge, by rea- 
€on of his temper and cruelties ever inflicted upon the County 
of Tryon, and his name has been handed down through history, 
as the worst hated, and most detested of all the tories of those 
times. As to Han Yost Schuyler, his brother and widowed 
mother strongly interceded in his behalf and as he was 
a well known Tory and regarded by the Indians with a sort 
of superstition they always entertain toward such unfortunates. 
Gen. Arnold conceived the idea of using him to frighten away the 
besiegers at Fort Stanwix. That r?«sc and its success, have been so 
often told, that the story need not be repeated here; suffice it to 
say that by reason of the exaggerated stories Han Yost com- 
municated to St. Leger, of the near approach of an overwhelming 
relieving force, the siege was abandoned August 22, and the 
besiegers hurriedly returned by the route they came 20 days be 



ADDRESS OF D. E. WAGER. 23 

fore, leaving behiii'l tlio boinbadier asleop in the boml) proof, St. 
Leber's private writing desk, tlie tents of the soldiers, provisions, 
artillery, ammunition, the entire camp equipage, and large quant- 
ities of other stores. 

Han Yost Schuyler tied with the fugitives as far as Oneida 
Lake; there he found means to leave them and to return to the 
fort, and apprise Col. Gansevoort of the 7-xise. This was the first 
notice the latter received of Gen. Arnold's approach, and explained 
why St. Leger had left in such haste. At four o'clock of the 
afternoon of the next day, Gen. Arnold arrived with his men, and 
with four brass field pieces, banners displayed, drums beating, 
music playing, they marched 'into the fort amid the booming of 
cannon, the discharge of musketry and the cheers of the garrison. 
The successful defense of Fort Slanwix to which Col. Willett so 
largely contributed, affixed the seal to American independence. 
Within two months thereafter, Burgoyne and his army laid down 
their arms on the field of Saratoga. Ticonderoga was abandoned, 
the British gave up the control of the Hudson and retreated down 
Ihe river and New York was redeemed. These victories and 
others, commencing at that lone fortress in the then far off wilder- 
resf=, sent a glow of joy throughoiit the tliirteen colonies, and 
paved the way for France in less than four months thereafter to 
acknowledge our independence. The British press spoke in the 
highest praise of Col. Willett's achievements, of his journey down 
the river through pathless woods in quest of succor. Congress 
voted him a sword, and the next October, one was sent him, 
accompanied by a copy of the resolution of Congress, and a 
complimentary letter from John Hancock, president of that body. 
That testimonial is now in the possession of a descendant of Col. 
Willett, and a description of it is furnished tne as follows: "It is 
one of ordinary length, rapier kind, running to a sharp point, 
and of Damascus steel; the handle is gold, platina and other 
metal, and on it is this inscription, '■Congress to Col. Wil'eif, Oct., 
1777.'" After St. Leger's retreat Col. Willett passed several 
months in comparative inactivity. He completed the unfinished 
works of Fort Stanwix, and drilled the troops stationed there. 
The last of September, Col. Gansevoort having returned to that 
fort, Col. Willett set out to visit his family at Fishkill, where he 
arrived October 4, the very day the British captured P^orts Clinton 
and Montgomerj', and thereby obtained for a short time, control 
of the H'ulf^on. Col. Willett remained for awhile in that vicinity. 



24: COL. MAEINUS WILLETT. 

assisting in ihe defense of the country about that river. That fail 
he visited the array under Washington, a dozen of miles from 
Philadelphia, and remained there until January, 1778, when he 
returned to Fort Stanwix. Wearied with this inactive and monot- 
onous life, he set out in June, 1778, to join the army under 
Washington; on reaching Fishkill, he found there Gen. Gates, and. 
on the 21st of that month, news came that the British had 
evacuated Philadelphia. As Gen. Gates had important informa- 
tion to communicate to Washington, Col. Willett was sent as the 
confidential messenger. He remained with the main army, and 
took part in the battle of Monmouth on the 28th of June, and 
continued with that army the rest of the year 1778. 

The great campaign for the year 1779, was to be an invasion of 
the country in the western part of New York, occupied by the 
Onondaga, Cayugft and Seneca Indians. Those tribes. had taken 
sides with the British, and from their territory many of the incur- 
sions into the Mohawk settlements were planned ; their rich agri- 
cultural fields had afforded support to the armies, and to the 
Indian families, while the war was thus carried on against the 
colonists. Those tribes possessed large cultivated fields, of great 
productiveness, also extensive gardens and orchards, and lived in 
frame houses, and had acquired some of the arts, and were in the 
enjoyment of many of the comforts of civilized life. They 
raised in profusion apples, pears, peaches, ])lums, melons, squashes, 
grapes, cranberries, beans and tobacco; corn was raised in large 
quantities; ears of that grain measured twenty-two inches in 
length; the first sweet corn ever seen in New England was carried 
thither from the country of the Six Nations by a soldier in his 
knapsack, during the war of the revolution. This Indian country 
included some fifty to sixty towns, all rudely built for those times. 
Washington, Schuyler and others and Congress felt that a country 
which furnished so much aid and comfort to the enemy, should be 
as thorouglily devastated as had been the valley of the MohaAvk. 
To accomplish that j)urpose, two armies, one under Gen. Sullivan 
was to proceed from Pennsylvania, to meet another under Gen. 
Clinton at or near the junction of Tioga and Susquehanna rivers* 
below Newtown, now near EIraira, and thence proceed via Seneca 
and the other inland lakes into the heart of the Indian country of 
western Nesv York. In April of that year, and as a part of the 
same campaign, some 600 troops, in charge of Cols. Willett and 
Van Schaack, were ordered from Fort Stanwix to go down Wood^ 



ADDRESS OF D. E. WAGER. 25 

Creek and into Oneida Lake to the Onondaga River, and tlionce 
into the country of the Onondagas, to lay their settlements waste, 
destroy their buildings and inflict the same kind of chastisement 
upon them that had been inflicted upon the white settlements. 
This expedition started from Fort Stanwix April 18, and was gone 
six days, traveling 180 miles, and most effectually accomplishing 
the work it set out to perform. About a dozen villages, extending 
a distance of some ten miles along the valley of the Onondagt 
streams, were burned, grain, cattle and other property de^troye"^}, 
the swivel of their council house disabled, and the destruction of 
the settlements rendered complete. After this work Col. VVillett 
returned to Canajoharie and then joined Gen. Clinton's army, for 
its destination to meet Gen. Sullivan. Four weeks Gen. Clinton 
was occupied in making the needed preparations; in August he 
and his army went overland to the head of Otsego Lake, the head 
waters of Susquehanna River, taking 200 boats from Canajoharie, 
each drawn by four horses, to that lake. The waters of the lake 
and river were raised by a dam, and the loaded boats were 
launched, to be carried down the river by the rushing waters. For 
the energy and ability displayed by Col. Willett in the part he 
took to start that flotilla. Gen. Clinton paid him a high compliment 
in a letter to Gen. Sclmyler. The two armies of Gens. Sullivau 
and Clinton united, and on the 29th of August was fought the 
bloody and hotly contested battle of Newtown, in which thelndians 
under Brant and the Tories under Sir John Johnson and Col. John 
Butler were totally routed. The enemy fought with desperation, 
for they were fighting for their homes, and they knew that d<ifeat 
meant the desolation of their country and the destruction of their 
firesides. There was no battle and not much opposition after that. 
Sullivan's army, 5,000 strong, overran the entire hostile country 
and laid it waste, leaving hardly a green, living or movable 
thmg on the whole track of the invaders. They found it a garden, 
but left it a desert. Over forty towns, which included 700 build- 
ings, were burned to ashes, 160,000 bushels of corn were destroyed, 
elegant gardens laid waste, 1,500 bearing fruit trees leveled to the 
ground, cattle killed or driven off; and the inhabitants compelled 
to seek safety in flight. It broke the backbone of the Iroquois 
confederacy, from which it never recovered. That campaign has 
passed into history as the "Sullivan's expedition." The ravages 
of the Indian country, made by that expedition, incited those hosUlft 
tribes and the Tories to retaliate in kind and to wreak their 



26 COL. MARINCS WILLETT. 

vengeance the next year upon the white settlements of Tryon 
county. After that expedition Col. Willett again returned to the 
main army and rendered himself useful in connection therewith. 
In the winter of 1779-80 he led a detachment of 500 men, and 
with one field piece, crossed at night on the ice over to Staten 
Island and captured seventeen wagonloads of stores, which at that 
particular juncture were of great service to the troops. The same 
winter he led another expedition to Paulus Hook, (Jersey City,) 
captured a redoubt and all of the cattle of the British. It 
was the celerity of Col. Willett's movements, the fertility of 
his resources and his untiring activity that rendered him such a 
valuable aid to the patriot cause and so much dreaded by the 
enemy. He was in that war to the Americans what Sheridan was 
to the North and Stonewall Jackson to the South in the recent 
civil war. Wherever he commanded he inspired the confidence 
and enthusiasm of his men, and they generally followed wherever 
he dared to lead. 

During the year 1780 and while the Indians and Tories were 
committing terrible ravages in Tryon county, Col. Willett was 
with the main army in Westchester county, but nothing of 
importance occurred, so far as he was concerned. \ The County of 
Tryon during the first six years of the war, suffered more severely 
than any other extent of territory within the thirteen colonies. 
Within its borders more campaigns were ])erforraed, more battles 
fought, more people murdered and more dwellings burned than in 
any other section. The Board of Supervisors of that county, 
reported to the Legislature in December, 1780, that during the 
war 700 buildings had been burned, 354 families had abandoned 
their homes and removed from the country, 613 persons had 
deserted to the enemy, 197 had been killed, 121 taken captives, 
and 1,200 farms were uncultivated by reason of the enemy, and 
this did not include some five or six other settlements. Other 
statistics show that thousands of horses and cattle had been killed 
or stolen, millions of bushels of grain destroyed, and that 300 
women had been made widows, and 2,000 children made orphans. 
These ravages and misfortunes, earned for the valley of the 
Mohawk, the title of " the dark and bloody ground," and well nigh 
extinguished the hopes and crushed out the spirit of the people. 
The year 1781 opened gloomily upon the inhabitants of that 
valley. In this emergency, Gov. Clinton bethought himself of one 
who could revive the drooping spirits of the people, whose presence 



ADDRESS OF D. E. WAGEK. 2T 

wowld arouse great enthusiasm and be a tower of strenoth in the 
valley. That one was Col. jMaiiiius Willelt. At the urgent solicit- 
ation of Gov. Clinton and with great reluctance, Col. Willett 
consented to leave the main army, and make his headquarters in 
the valley to take command of the levies assigned to that branch 
of the State service. His strong sympathies with the suffering 
people, his acquaintance with Indian methods and modes of war- 
fare, and the assurances of Gov. Clinton that his presence was 
needed, induced him to undertake the laborious and hazardous 
service. He has left on record the assertion that one year of such 
work was more trying and laborious than all of the other years of 
the war. The fore i)art of July, 1781, Col. Willett established his 
headquarters at Canajoharie, and it was not long thereafter before 
his services were called into requisition. 

In the year 1781 there were twenty-four forts between Schenec- 
tady and Fort Dayton, (now Herkimer village), into which the 
inhabitants of the valley sought refuge when pressed by the enemy, 
or otherwise threatened with danger. Some of these forts were 
nothing more than dwellings within picketed inclosures; neverthe- 
less they afforded a comparative security pgainst sudden irruptions 
from the toe. Eail}- that year the wholei northern and western 
frontiers of New York were threatened with invasions, and the 
people were weighed down by a deeper feeling of unrest and 
despondency than at any former period during the war. The 
country between Albany and Lake Champlain was suffering for 
want of provisions and in danger of raids from Canada in that 
direction, while Brant and his dusky warriors were hovering about 
the valley of the Mohawk, ready to pounce upon any soldier or 
inhabitant who was unfortunate enough to be caught away from 
his comrades or the forts. It was in the spring of that year that 
Brant and his Indians, while ])rowling around Fort Stanwix and 
its vicinity, picked up and carried ott some thirty of the garrison 
of that fort. In ^lay of the same year that P'ort was so badly in- 
jured by fire and flood that it was abandoned, and the men removed 
to other quiirters. It was in the midst of this deep gloom and gen- 
eral discouragement that Col. Willett consented to take command 
of the northwestern frontier and make his headquarters in the 
Mohawk valley. The fore part of July, 1781, he established him- 
self at Canajoharie, where he had one hundred and tAventy men; 
at Furt Herkimer he had about twenty more, at Ballston some 
thirty, and at Catskill twenty; in other parts of the valley were 



28 " COL. MAKTIS'US WILLETT. 

less than one hundred more. These did not include the militia 
nor the new levies soon expected to be raised. The country he 
M^as to defend was all of New York west of Albany county^ 
and included Catskill and other exposed points along the 
Hudson. He was not left long without occupation; even while 
establishing his headquarters, a force of three or four hundred, 
mostly Indians, was on its way from Canada to attack the Mohawk 
settlements. Capt. John Dockstador was a bitter Tory, and, some 
time before, had fled from that part of the country and collected 
the above Indians and Tories to return and raid his old neighbors 
and acquaintances, and in hopes, if successful, of becoming a major. 
This raiding party took the route from Canada, througii the Seneca 
country, traveled by the "Sullivan expedition " of two years be- 
fore, thence struck off for the head, waters of the Susquehanna to 
the Mohawk valley settlements, in the direction of what is now 
Sharon Springs. Dockstader and his men, pursued their course 
with such quietness and stealth, that 'they reached without being 
discovered, a dense cedar swamp of some seventy-five acres, about 
half a mile southwest of what is now Sharon Centre, some two 
miles east of Sharon Springs. Upon a slight rise of ground 
within that swamp, concealed from view, those raiders encamped 
for the first night, and most of them started off the next morning, 
Monday, July 9th, to attack Corrytown, a small settlement of a 
dozen houses, six or eight miles distant in a northeasterly direction, 
in what is now the tow^n of Root, in Montgomery county, three 
miles south of Spraker's Basin, and about a dozen miles southeast- 
erly from Can.'ijoliarie, where Col. Willett was located. It so 
hap|jened that early on the same morning, that those Indians and 
Tories left that swamp for Corrytown, Col. Willett, without 
knowing that an enemy was in that direction, sent out from Can- 
ajoharie, a scouting party of thirty-five men, under Capt. Gross, 
to patrol the country around Sharon Springs, then a strong Tory 
settlement known as New Dorlach, and to procure beeves and 
other supplies for the garrison, also to see if an enemy was near. 
The fact that New Dorlach was a Tory settlement, was doubtless 
the incentive for Dockstader, to make that swamp his headquarters 
and hiding place, for his Tory sympathizers were undoubtedly 
apprised of his coming, and kept it a secret. The same feeling 
probably moved Col. Willett to be suspicious of that locality, and 
to make it the base of his supplies. Capt. Gross had been gone 
but a few hours on his scouting expedition, when the garrison at> 



ADDKESS OF D. E. WAGEK. 29 

CaDajoharie, discovered aboiit uoon, fire and smoke in the direction 
of Corrytown. The Indians had commenced their work of })illage 
and destruction. Col. Willett at once dispatched to CorrytOAvn, 
Capt. McKean, with sixteen levies and with orders to collect as 
many militia on the route, as he could gather, and at the same 
time he sent a messenger post haste after Capt. Gross to inform 
him of the fire, and of the i)robable proximity of the enemy in 
New Dorlach, v\ith instructions to discover their location. Capt. 
Gross struck the trail the enemy made, when it left the swamp for 
Corrytown, and by its width, estimated the number to be three or 
four hundred ; he sent two or three of his men to follow the trail 
to its starting place, while he retired to a safe and convenient point 
of observation, and waited for his men to return; after following . 
the trail about a mile, the men reached the encampment in the 
swamp, discovered a large number of packs, and that some of the 
Indians left behind were engaged in cooking, as if expecting the 
main body to return for the night. They, undiscovered, stole a 
blanket from one of the tents and then hurried back to report 
to Capt. Gross. The latter at once sent a man on horseback to Col. 
Willett. In the meantime the latter was busy all the afternoon in 
collecting the militia and getting ready to start at a moment's 
notice. Capt. McKcan reached Corrytown in time to quench the 
flames in one or two of the dwellings after the enemy had left, but 
not in time, nor would he have been able had he arrived sooner, to 
gavethedozen othcrbuildings, whichDockstader and his men burned 
to the ground, nor to have protected the inhabitants, which were 
murdered or carried away captives by that superior force. There 
was a picketed block house in that settlement into which a few 
hurried and were saved, while others sought safety by hiding in 
the woods, or by being fleet of foot. Cattle and horses were killed 
or driven away, and, when the Indians left, about 4 p. m., they 
left behind them a sad and sickening scene of desolation. When 
word from Capt. Gross reached Col. Willett it was near night, 
and he at once set off for the swamp, with orders for Capt. 
McKean and Capt. Vedder at Fort Paris (two miles northeast of 
Fort Plain) to follow. It was Col. Willett's intention to reach the 
camp in the night, surprise and attack it before daylight, but 
the woods were thick, with no road better than a bridle path; the 
night was dark, and the guide lost his way. so that it was six in the 
morning before Col. Willett and Capts. McKean and Gross reached 
the camp. In the meantime the enemy had news of the approach 



30 COL. MARINUS WILLETT. 

and had changed their ground to a more advantageous position, 
about one-eighth of a mile northwest of Sharon Centre, instead of- 
one-half a mile to the southwest, where they encamped. Col. 
Willett divided his forces into two parallel lines, or in the form of 
a crescent aud placed them in a ravine and sent a small detachment 
over the brow of the hill to show themselves to the enemy with 
orders at the first tire to retreat and draw the Indians into the 
ravine — much like the trap into which Herkimer was caught at the 
battle of Oriskany. The decoy succeeded and the Indians came 
rushing on, yelling, whooping, hallooing, until they met Col. 
Willett's men ; there they were checked, the tide of battle 
turned, and after a sharp fight of nearly two hours, the enemy fled, 
Col. Willett following vigorously in the pursuit, calling on his 
men "to follow, while he waved his hat and shouted at the top of 
his voice, " Come on boys, the day is ours. I can catch in my hat all 
the bullets the rascals can send," and at the same time, gave orders 
in a loud tone of voice, as if directing a detachment to reach the rear 
of the enemy to cut off their retreat. The Indians and Tories 
were thoroughly frightened and fled in great confusion, leaving 
behind the plunder and booty taken the day before, killing some 
of their captives and hurrying off with the rest. They also left 
behind forty of their own dead and all of their camp equipage. 
The victory was complete, and produced inspiriting effect upon the 
Americans. The loss of Col. Willett was five men, among whom 
was the brave and meritorious Capt. McKean and his son. The 
captain was shot in the battle, but died after he had reached Can- 
ajoharie. Uockstader and his men hurriedly left the valley, he 
without earning the commission of major, which he expected, and 
that party did not again molest the Mohawk settlements. A brief 
sketch of some of the incidents attending this invasion will be 
sufficient to indicate the trials and sufferings the inhabitants of 
Tryon county passed through during the whole period of the rev- 
olutionary war. The attack upon Corrytown was so wholly un- 
expected the settlers were not prepared for it : most of them were 
at work in the fields, and but few had an opportunity to reach the 
picketed inclosure. Jacob Diefendorf, a pioneer settler, with his 
two young sons, were at work in the field; one of the sons, 12 or 
14 yeai's old, was tomahawked and scalped, and after lying 
several hours insensible, bathed in his blood, he crawled to the 
picketed enclosure, without knowing what he was doing. On 
reaching his friends he imploringly raised his hands and besought 



ADDKESS OF D. E. WAGEIJ. 31 

them not to kill hiin ; liis wounds were dressed, and he recovered 
and lived for several years thereafter. The other son was taken 
captive and carried to the cedar swamp, and when thelndians vvhero 
routed by Col. Willett, younc; Diefendorf was scalped and left for 
dead. He covered himself Avith the leaves of the trees to keep off 
the flies from his wound, and when discovei'ed, covered and be- 
grimed- with blood, ho was at first supposed to be an Indian. He 
was taken back to his friends, his wounds dressed, and, although his 
head was five years in healing, he eventually recovered and became 
one of the wealthiest farmers in Montgomery county. He died 
in 1859 at the age of 85 years. A girl a dozen years old, was 
also taken prisoner to that cedar swamp, and when the enemy 
were defeated and found they could not take their young captive 
with them to Canada, the Indians took her scalp, as they did not 
wish to lose the bounty the British goverment had oiibred for 
scalps. When the settlers at Corrytown saw the enemy approach- 
ing, a husband and father started from his house with his family 
to reach the picketed block house. He had a small child in one hand 
and his gun in the other, followed by his wife with an infant in 
her arms and several children on foot hold of her dress. A savage 
fired at them, the bullet ])assed near the head of the child in the 
father's arms and lodged in the pickets. That was the last family 
that reached the fort. As before stated, the Indians plundered all 
of the buildings in the neighborhood and set them on fire, and all 
where burned except one. 

The news of Dockstader's defeat was received with great joy 
throughout the country. The common council of the city of 
Albany, on the 19th of the month the battle was fought, passed 
complimentary resolutions in favor of Col. Willett and his officers 
and men for their bravery and intrepidity in that battle and voted 
to Col. Willett the freedom of that city. That battle took place 
on July 10, 1781, and has passed into history as "the battle of 
Sharon." Its centennial anniversary was observed in July, 1881, 
by the inhabitants of that part of the State. As I learn from 
residents of that locality that cedar swamp yet remains, covered 
with trees, about as impassable as ever, except in very dry seasons 
or in the coldest of weather, when the grounds and the small lake 
in the center are frozen hard. Soon after that battle news came 
to Col. Willett at one o'clock at night that a party of fifty 6r sixty 
Indians were hovering around a settlement five or six miles 
distant. In an hour's time he had a captain of militia company. 



32 COL. MARINUS WILLETT. 

"with seventy men, in pursuit, but the Indians wisely took to their 
heels. It was by reason of such promptness and the celerity of 
Col. Willett's movements, his dash in battle, and his 
seeming ubiquity that the Indians had such a dread and fear of 
him; they believed he possessed supernatural powers; they called 
him " the devil." 

During that summer the enemy a])peared at intervals in small 
numbers in different parts of the valley, but nothing occurred to 
dignify it with the name of an invasion or a raiih. 

Over three months had passed since the irruption of Dockstader; 
the farmers had gathered their crops, filled their granaries, and 
partially settled down into the belief that the year 1781 would 
pass along without any more formidable invasions of the valley, 
with its attendant consequences. If such a hope was entertained, 
it proved illusory, and the expectation was doomed to disappoint- 
ment. In the forenoon of Wednesday, October 24lh, a hostile 
force of 700 men, composed of British, Indians and Tories under 
the command of Majors Ross and Walter N. Butler was first dis- 
covered in the valley near Argusville in Schoharie county, making 
its way towards Corrytown. That expedition was organized at 
Bucks, now called Carleton Island in the St. Lawrence, and thence 
it proceeded across Lake Ontario to Oswego, thence by the water 
rovite to Oneida Lake as far as Chittenango Creek; at that point, 
the boats were secreted, and the men struck across the country 
through Onondaga, Madison and Otsego counties, to the vicinity 
in Schoharie, where first discovered. The enemy proceeded to 
Corrytow^n, plundered the dwellings, made prisoners of the 
inhabitants, but avoided setting fires, lest they might alarm the 
garrison of Col. Willett, and thereby be frustrated in accomplish- 
ing their undertaking. From that point they proceeded to the 
Mohawk, followed it down on the south side, to Fort Hunter, 
where Schohai-ie Creek empties into the river; they arrived at 
that point at nightfall, crossed over the creek into what was then 
called Warrensburgh, now the town of Florida in Montgomery 
county. PY-aring they were going too far to the eastward, they 
crossed the next morning to the northerly side of the Mohawk, 
east of Tribe's Hill, and by a circuitous route went to Johnstown 
and the old baronial hall of Sir William J6hnson, where they 
arrived <it noon Thursday, October 25th. The whole track of the 
enemy was marked by the murder or capture of inhabitants, 
stealing of horses and cattle, plunder of dwellings and destruction 



ADDRESS OF D. E. WAGER. 33^ 

of property. Late in the afternoon of the day the enemy was 
seen moving down tlie river towards Fort Hunter, the news of 
their marcli was brought to Col. Willett; he immediately mustered 
all the spare forces r.t hanrl, sent orders to other points for the 
militia to follow on after liim, while he crossed to the south side of 
the Mohawk in pursuit. He marched all night, and reached Fort 
Hunter, some twenty miles east of Canajoharie, in the morning, 
and was proceeding to cross Schoharie Creek, and follow the 
enemy into the town of Florida, when he learned that the latter 
was on their way to Johnstown. The ]\Iohawk was deep at that 
point and not fordalde and Col. Willett was obliged to procure 
boats or floats to get his men over that riv'er, so that it was noon 
before he reached the north side. His troops were at once formed 
in marching order and set oft' in haste for Johnstown. Col. 
Willett had 416 men ; the enemy about double that number. They 
reached Johnstown a])out the middle of the afternoon. Col. 
Willett sent a small detachment under command of Mbijor Rowley 
to the east to attack the enemy in the rear, while he engaged them 
in front. A sharp engagement ensued, resulting in driving the 
enemy into the edge of the woods near by, when of a sudden, 
without any known or explainable reason, Willett's men wei'e 
seized with a panic and fled from the tield, leaving a cannon in 
possession of the enemy, and some of them seeking refuge in a 
stone church. The ettbrts of Coi. Willett to rally them were in 
vain. At that unfortunate time Major Rowley's force came upon 
the enemy's rear, attacked them Avith great vigor, throwing them 
into confusion and driving them from the field. They, however, 
rallied, and in turn drove back Major Rowley, and the two con- 
lending forces were alternately defeated, and so the fighting 
continued until sunset. In the meantime Col. Willett succeeded 
in gathering his men and returned to the fight. At dark the 
enemy was totally beaten, driven further into the woods, and 
sought safety on the lop of a mountain, six miles distant to the 
north. After dark Col. Willett procured lights and buried the 
dead. His loss was forty killed ; he took fifty prisoners, from 
whom it was learned that the enemy intended to move the next 
day upon Stone Arabia, in the vicinity of what is now known as 
Palatine Bridge, with a view to obtain provisions. Col. Willett 
moved his men to that locality, while he sent a scouting party to 
follow the enemy and keep track of their movements. By this 
scouting party he lea]"ned that the enemy were moving north- 
c 



34 COL. MARINUS WILLETT. 

■westerly, nearly parallel with the Mohawk, toward the northerly" 
part of Herkimer county, as if it was the intention to sjet out of 
the reach of the Americans, and then strike down to the 
Mohawk and across the country to Chittenango Creek, whei'C the 
boats had been left. To prevent such a movement, Col. Willett, 
on the morning of Saturday, October 27, sent a detachment to 
destroy the boats while he marched his men to Fort Herkimer, on 
the south side of the river, some two miles east of Herkimer 
village, there to await developments, still keeping spies on" the 
trail of the enemy, with orders to send swift messengers to him at 
every turn of affairs. Majors Ross and Butler marched their men 
at a slow pace, for they were hemmed in the woods, short of pro- 
visions, and exposed to great dangers. On Monday, October 29, 
they encamped in a thick wood in the north part of what is now 
the town of Norway, about half a mile from Black Creek — an 
encampment which has passed down by traditions as " Butler's 
ridge." Thus it will be seen, by looking on a map of New York, 
the slow progress that was made after the battle of Johnstown, 
some forty miles distant. During the four days the enemy was 
on that route the weather was cold and each man had only one- 
half pound of horse flesh each day on which to subsist. On the 28th 
the detachment returned, which Col. Willett had sent to the boats, 
without having accomplished (for some reason,) the work it was 
sent to do. Late in the afternoon of Sunday, October 28, Col. 
Willett received word that the enemy were striking still deeper 
into the wildernesSj as if to make their escape by crossing West 
Canada Creek miles above Trenton Falls, and thence steer their 
course through a pathless forest, via the Black River to Carleton 
Island. To frustrate that move, a short time before dark of the 
same day, Col. Willett selected 400 of his best troops with sixty 
Oneida Indians, who had that day joined his forces, and taking 
five days' provisions, he started out, crossed the Mohawk, and 
followed up the valley of West Canada Creek and encamped 
that night in the woods above Fort Dayton (now Herkimer 
village). 

Early the next morning. Col. Willett and his men were astir, 
following up the easterly side of the creek, to what is now 
Middleville, marching in the midst of a driving snow storm, and 
pushing their way in a northeasterly direction, into the north part 
of the town of Norway, and at dark, encamped for the night in 
a dense wood, about a mile, as it turned out, from the enemy'^. 



ADDRESS OF D. E. WAGEE. 63 

encampment. A scouting' party was at once sent forwarcl to 
discover the location of the foes, and to ascertain whether Col. 
Willett was in their front or rear ; that party soon returned with 
the news of the proximity of the retreating forces, and at first. 
Col. Willett thought to make a night attack, but as the enemy 
had a supply of bayonets which his men had not, he conclnded to 
wait until the morrow. At break of day, Tuesday, Oct6ber 80, 
the Americans were again on foot, a scout having been sent ahead 
to learn what the enemy were doing. The main body of the men 
of Ross and Butler were iip as early as the pursuers and on the 
march, a detachment being in the rear as a guard, and to bring on 
the baggage and provisions ; that scouting party got in between 
the advance and rear forces, and one of them was shot while 
the others hurried back to Willett with the news. The pursuers 
were hiirriedly pushed forward, and overtook the enemy near 
Black Creek, an engagement ensued, in which the enemy were 
compelled to retreat; frequent skirmishes took place all the way 
to West Canada Creek, some two or three miles, the enemy 
seeming perfectly discouraged and demoralized and only too 
anxious to get out of reach and harm's way. They reached West 
Canada Creek, hurriedly crossed, and when on the opposite shore 
rallied and another sharp skirmish ensued — the creek separating 
the combatants. In that engagement Walter N. Butler was shot 
and instantly killed, as Col. Willett says, the ball entered his eye 
and passed ont the back part of his head. Accounts differ as to 
whether Butler Avas killed by a random shot, or by one taking 
deliberate aim, and also as to whether he was scalped. The mosti 
reliable account is, that he was killed by a stray bullet and that 
he was not scalped, as Col. Willett makes no mention of it in his 
narrative, but simply says, " he was shot dead." Thus perished 
Walter N. Butler, the greatest scourge, the most cruel and in- 
human monster, and the worst hated Tory, who inflicted his 
presence upon the border settlements of Pennsylvania and New 
York. His father later on offered a reward for the recovery of 
the body, but it was never restored to him, nor would the 
American soldiers accord it a burial; they left it to bleach and rot 
upon the identical ground where it had fallen. The news of this 
victory and death spread through the valley, about the time that 
the tidings came of the capture of the army of Coruwallis at 
Yorktown: yet that surrender did not give more, if so much, joy 
to the inhabitants of the valley, as the assurance that Walter N, 



36 COL. MAKTNUS TVILLETT. 

Butler had passed from earth. After the shooting of Butler the 
enemy fled in confusion, and at a rapid gait, leaving behind packs 
and all that encumbered their retreat, and struck oflf through the 
dense and pathless wilderness in the direction of the valley of the 
Black River. After seven days' journey, of innumerable suffer- 
ings and untold hardships, they reached Carleton Island, eighty- 
miles distant, in a famishing condition, many of the men Avho 
crossed Canada Creek having perished by the way. Col. Willett 
and his men crossed that stream and followed in pursuit until 
nearly dark; but as the Americans were getting short of provisions, 
and as the enemy retreated with such rapidity, it was deemed 
prudent to return, as the victory was as complete as if the whole 
of the enemy's forces were captured. On the return to recross the 
creek, the Americans discovered a five-year-old white girl near a 
fallen tree, crying piteously. She had been stolen from her 
parents, but as the Indians did not wish to be further encumbered 
with her, they left the waif where she was found, near the fallen 
tree. The little girl was taken in charge and restored to her 
friends down the valley. The place of the enemy's crossing on 
West Canada Creek is about five miles up the stream from Gang, 
or Hinkley's Mills, and nearly double that distance above Trenton 
Falls. It is near the line between the towns of Russia and Ohio 
in Herkimer county. At that point the stream is fordable for two 
or three miles, owing to the rifts and to small and large stones in 
the channel of the creek. It is now known as " Hess's Rifts," and 
the crossing place is called by some "Butler's Ford." 

In the pocket of Butler when his dead body was found was the 
same commission he exhibited on his trial as a spy four years before 
at the time Col. Willett acted as judge advocate some ten days 
after the battle of Oriskany. Let me state in this connection and 
by way of parenthesis that Dr. William Retry (grandfather of 
Judges Robert and Samuel Earl of Herkimer,) was surgeon general 
in Col. Willett's regiment, a])pointed in April, 1781, and was in 
this expedition ; and was all through the w^ar, and was wounded at 
the battle of Oriskany four years before. 

The loss of the enemy in this October incursion of Ross and 
Butler was never known. Col. Willett's official dispatches contain 
the following : •' The fields of Johnstown, the brooks and rivers, 
the hills and mountains, the deej) and gloomy marshes and dense 
woods through which they had to pass, these only could tell ; and 
perhaps the officers who detached them on tliis expedition." Gen. 



ADDRESS OF D. E. WAGER. 37 

Heath, tlie American couiniander of the northern frontier, issued 
a general order in Xovcniber, 1781, commending Lord Sterling, 
Gen. Stark and others for tlieir services that year, and mentions 
the battle of Johnstown, the defeat of Ross and Butler and the 
death of the latter, and adds: "The general presents his thanks 
to Col. Wiliett whose address, gallantry and persevering activity 
exhibited on this occasion do him highest honor."" 

This expedition closed the war in the valley of the Mohawk for 
that year. In fact, there was no longer much of anything left iu 
that valley for a hostile expedition to destroy; the inhabitants had 
lost pretty much all, except the soil they cultivated, most of their 
fine farms had been turned into a wilderness waste, except in the 
vicinity of the forts, and at times hunger stared the settlers in the 
face, and famine seemed inevitable. These resistances in the 
valley, may seem unimportant, because no great battles were 
fought, and no great victories won; nevertheless they stemmed 
the tide of the enemy's advance into the interior, and kept them 
back from the towns of the Hudson, and prevented the establish- 
ment of a chain of forts along that river, which was a favorite 
scheme and a long cherished hope and object of the British. 

For the j^ear 1 782, Col. Wiliett remained at his headquarters on 
the Mohawk, but no considerable force of the enemy appeared at 
any one time, to molest the inhabitants of Tryon county. Small 
and scattering bodies of Indians appeared at various places, caus- 
ing trouble and creating alarm, but no very serious disturbances 
occurred. The exigencies of the times required vigilance and 
alertness on the part of Col. Wiliett, and the sending of squads 
of troops in the night, several miles into the wilderness, or into 
neighboring localities, to drive out the enemy, or to discover if 
one was near, yet the campaign of 1782 closed without any 
important event in Tryon county. The substantial fighting of the 
war ended with the surrender of Cornwallis, and negotiations for 
peace between the two countries Avere commenced in Elurope near 
the close of the year of 1782. F'or nearly a year there was an 
armistice, nevertheless, none of the eiforts of the American officers 
were relaxed, to ])reserve the discipline of the trooi)s and to keep 
the country in an attitude of defense. The recruiting of New 
York Slate troops had been successful that year, by reason of the 
legislature offering a bounty of money, instead of a bcunty in 
lands; so that at the close of the year 17S2, Col. Wiliett had a 
regiment of 400 State troops. Having prepared winter barracks 



88 



COL. MAEINUS WILLETT. 



for his men, inoculated many of them for small pox, and huilt a 
log hut for himself, Col. Willett set out the last of November for 
Albany, Thence he went to Fishkill for his wife, with" the inten- 
tion to take her to his winter quarters during the winter of 1782-3, 
At that time Gen. Washington's headquarters were at Newbnrgh, 
opposite Fishkill Landing, and there Col. Willett went to pay his 
respects to the commander-in-chief; he remained to dinner, and as 
he left the table and arose to depart, Washington invited CoL 
Willett into the office, and unfolded a secret plan of sending an 
expedition the then coming winter to surprise and capture Oswego. 
Col. Willett was asked to lead the expedition. The latter had 
made arrangements for passing the winter with his wife in com- 
fortable quarters, and it was with reluctance that he hesitated to 
accept the request of the commander in-chief. He departed with a 
promise to think of it, and let Washington soon know the result 
of his conclusions. A correspondence ensued, and as Gen. 
Washington desired to keep the matter a profound secret, the 
correspondence on his part Avas in his own handwriting. Col. 
Willett accepted the position. At that time Oswego was one of 
the most formidable defenses on this continent, and had given the 
enemy by its possession, and that of Niagara, great advantage 
during the war. The whole expedition was to be one of secrecy, 
for upon it depended its success, and the positive instructions of 
Washington to Col. Willett were, not to attack nor attempt to 
capture Oswego, except by surprise. On Saturday, the 8th of 
February, 1783, the troops were suddenly assembled at Fort 
Herkimer, and a large portion of them supplied with snow shoes, 
as they had no beaten track to follow, and the snow was from two 
and one-half to three feet deep. The men thus provided went 
ahead and made a track for a cavalcade of 200 sleighs that 
followed, carrying the remainder of the troops and the baggage. 
The expedition reached Oneida Lake Sunday night, February 9, 
and crossed it that night on the ice, and arrived at Fort Brewer- 
ton, at the foot of the lake, where the sleighs were left, and the 
men followed the river on ice to Oswego Falls (now Fulton) and 
arrived there about 2 i\ m., February 10. There they went into the 
W'oods, made ladders and the prospect of stealing unawares upon the 
garrison and capturing the fort Avas everything that could be desired. 
At 10 o'clock that night the expedition reached a point of land 
about four miles from the fort; here on account of the weakness 
of the ice on Oswego River, men were obliged to take to the land, 



ADDRESS OF D. E. WAGER. 3d^ 

and pmsue the route tlirough tlie woods. An Oneida Indian, who 
was considered every way trustworthy and reliable, and supposed 
to be f amilinr with the woods and the route, was selected as a guide. 
Four hours remained before the moon set, the tims appointed to 
attack the fort, then four miles distant. 

The guide took the lead, the men following his ti'ack. In two 
hours' time, not discovering an opening in the woods, Col. Willett 
went to the front to ascertain the cause, and learned the guide was 
considerably ahead and the men following blindly on the tracks in 
the snow ; in the course of an hour the guide was overtaken and 
found standing still, apparently lost and bewildered. The men had 
been led into a swamp, some in sunken holes and many had frozen 
feet and one man was frozen to death. The guide had struck 
other tracks in the snow, which he followed supposing they led to 
the fort, but instead, they led in another direction down the lake. 
In this perplexity there was no alternative but to forego the 
attack on the fort, and to retrace their steps. The men were in the 
woods three days without provisions, and were gone twelve days 
on the expedition. Before they left Fort Herkimer peace had 
been concluded in Europe, but it was not known in this country; 
while this expedition was on its way to Oswego, the news of peace 
■was received by Congress. After Col. Willett returned to his 
headquarters he went to Albany and there heard the glorious 
news proclaimed to the rejoicing inhabitants by the town clerk at; 
the city hall. In Col. Willett's " narrative," the letters to him 
from (4en. Washington in relation to that expedition, are j)ublished, 
and the one of ]\[arch 5, 1783, completely exonerates him from 
all blame and expresses the high sense which the commander-in- 
cliief entertained of Col. Willett's persevering exertions and zeal 
on that expedition, and tendered his warmest thanks on the occas- 
ion. 

On Friday, April 11, 1783, Congress issued its proclamation 
announcing a cessation of hostilities on sea and land, and once agahi 
smiling peace prevailed throughout the borders. The thirteen 
colonies were now a free and independent nation, the armies were 
disbanded, the soldiers returned to the peacful pursuits of life, ex- 
changed the weapons of war for the implements of husbandry, 
the scattered population of the country gradually gathered at their 
firesides, at their old homes, and once more the people of Tyron 
county rejoiced and smiled through their tears. 

And now was to follow the inauguration of a new government, the 



40 COL. MARINUS WILLETT. 

adoption of a new civil polity and the creation of new offices. Old 
things were to be done away and all things to become new. There 
was a general hatred of everything that was English, and a universal 
feeling that, as far as possible, it should be banished from the 
land. The name of Kings' College was changed to that of Columbia. 
The county of Charlotte, named in honor of England's queen, 
the wife of George III, of revolutionary times, was, by an act of 
the legislature of April, 1784, changed to that of Washington; 
■while by the same act of the legislature, and as a grateful tribute 
and sense of poetic justice, the county named after the hated and 
last Tory governor of Xew York, the county wherein Col. Willett 
achieved his grandest triumphs, was given the name of the 
patriot, Montgomery, under whom Capt. Willett won his first 
laurels in battling fcr the existence of the infant republic. These 
are but a few instances of tlie changes elFected. So, too, those who 
had served faithfully and honorably in the war, were generally 
remembered and rewarded in the civil appointments in the State, 
although no law was i)assed, as there was 100 years later, requiring 
such appointments to be preferential. Col. Samuel Clyde, a major 
at the battle of Oriskany, and who had rendered efficient services 
in the Mohawk valley as an officer in the American army, was 
appointed the first sherifi'of Montgomery county, Col. Colbratb, 
another officer in the patriot army, and lieutenant in the "Sullivan 
expedition," was appointed the first sheriff of Herkimer, and later, 
the first one of Oneida. Col. Willett was elected to the assembly 
from New York in 1783, and the next year ap]^ointed sheriff of 
that county for three years. To be " high sherift" was considered 
in those times of more im]>ortance, dignity and consequence than 
in these days to be governor of the State. The grandfather of 
Col. Willett was sherift' of Queens county in 1820, and his ances- 
tors sheriffs of that county as follows: Thomas Willett in 1083, 
Elbert inl705, Thomas in 1707, Cornelius in 1708 and Thomas in 
1770. In 1790 Col. Willett was appointed by President Washing- 
ton commissioner to the Creek Indians, on a peace mission, that 
tribe having assumed a hostile attitude. He left in March and was 
absent four mouths, and was eminently successful in his errand, 
and w^ar was av(ried. Col. Willett's thorough acquaintance with 
Indian character, habits, modes of thought and reasoning, pe- 
culiarh^ fitted him for such a mission. In 1791 he was again ap- 
pointed sheriff of Nt-w York, and held the office this time for 
four years. Col. Willett was of powerful frame and of great 



ADDRESS OF D. E. WAGER. 41 

physical strength, and, of course, perfectly fearless. It is stated 
that wliile sheriff, to quell a riotous assemblage, he collared the 
ringleader, a brawny, broad shouldered, two-fisted butcher, and 
laid his prostrate form on the floor, where he was held as poAver- 
less as a hoppled sheep. In 1792 Col. AYillett was elected one of the 
directors of the Western Inland Lock Navigation Canal, the object 
being internal impi'ovements, to connect the waters of the Hudson 
Avith Lakes George and Champlain and those of the Mohawk wath 
Wood Creek at Rome. In the same year a general Indian Avar 
AA'ith the Avestern tiibes was apprehended, and Col. Willett was 
tendered the oflice of brigadier general in the United States army. 
This position he declined as he Avas not in favor of thus dealing 
with the Indians ; his advocacy of peace policy Avas adopted and 
Avar avoided. In 1807 he was appointed mayor of New York in 
place of DeAVitt Clinton and was, a year later, succeeded by Mr. 
Clinton. That office in those times of Col. Willett was one of 
great honor, dignity and emolument, and was sought after by men 
of ability and high standing. It is said to have been worth from 
$10,00u to $15,000 a year, and Col. Willett said that office yielded 
him a greater revenue during the year he held it, than did the 
scA^en years' office of sheriff'. In 1803 AA'hen DeWitt Clinton was 
first appointed to that office, he resigned the office of United 
States Senator to accept it, and he had for his competitors Edw^ard 
Livingston, Morgan Lewis, then Justices of the Supreme Court of 
the State, and the next year elected Governor. 

The great-grandfather of Col. Willett, it will be remembered, 
Avas the first English mayor of New York. In 1811 DeWitt 
Clinton was the nominee for the oflice of lieutenant-governor of 
one branch of his party, and Col. Willett of the other branch. 
Col. Nicholas P'ish. of the army of the revolution, father of 
Hamilton Fish, afterward governor, Avas the Federal nominee. 
The latter received an overwhelming majority in New Y^ork city as 
the opponents of Mr. Clinton, in his OAvn party, voted direct for 
jMr, Fish, as the surer Avay of defeating Mr. Clinton. But the 
latter was elected, as he was strong in the rural districts. Ham- 
mond's Political History of Ncav York, in referring to this contest, 
says that Col. Wilktt had been an officer of great merit in the 
revolutionary Avar, and in private life Avas regarded as an amiable 
and worthy citizen, but he had been somcAvhat wavering in politics 
and, in former days, had been inclined to support the faction of 
Aaron Burr. In the war of 1812 an immensely large public w^ar 



42 COL. MARINUS WILLETT. 

meeting was held in City Hall Park in August, 1814, to siipport 
that war and approve the measures of President Madison. Col. 
Willett addressed that meeting and, while standing beneath the flag 
of the nation, which waved over his head, he made a brief, but 
telling speech, which awakened unbounded enthusiasm and 
applause. He said it was a favorite toast in the war of the revolu- 
tion that "May every citizen become a soldier, and every soldier a 
citizen," and that the time had again come when our citizens must 
be soldiers. He concluded his brief speech as follows: "In the 
war of the revolution thei-e was a chorus to a song Ave used to sing 
in camp, in days of much more danger, which ran as follows: 

Let Europe empty all her force, 
We'll meet them iu array 
And shout Huzza, Huzza, Huzza, 
For life and liberty. 

This pithy discourse from an old man, near seventy-five years 
of age, whose services in behalf of his country were well known, 
was applauded to the very echo. 

In the Gi-eek revolution of 1823 Col. Willett warmly sympa- 
thized with the oppressed of that countr5\ He was chairman of 
a committee appointed to aid the Greeks in their struggle for in- 
dependence. A large meeting was held in the park in New York 
city, which was addressed by Col. Willett. 

In that speech, he referred to the fact that it was in the same 
place, where he assisted in 1Y65 in burning efligies of those who 
aided in the passage of the odious stamp act; the same park, 
where enthusiastic meetings were held in 1775, in favor of 
American independence in which he took part; that those were 
glorious times for him, and that the struggle of the Greeks was 
not unlike that of the Americans for freedom. He oifered to aid 
the cause of Greece by donating 2,000 acres of land to wdiich he 
was entitled by an act of the legislature of New York, passed in 
March, 1781. He said his labors in defending the frontiers of 
New York, by which he earned that bounty, were bj^ far the most 
arduous of any that he performed during the whole revolutionary 
■war ; that there was more fatigue, more hazard and more anxiety 
in one of those campaigns than iu seven such as he had served 
under Washington. Such is Col. Willett's testimony as to his 
labors in Tryon county. In 1824, presidential electors in New 
York were appointed by the legislature; Col. Willett was one of 
the appointees, and was elected president of the electoral college. 



ADDRESS OF D. E. WAGER. 43 

Wbetlier be voted for John Quincy Adams, Gen. Jackson, Henry 
Clay or William H. Crawford, all them candidates, I have not 
ascertained. In 1824, President Monroe, i)iir.su;u5i to a resolve of 
Congress invited LaFayette to become the guest of this nation; 
he accepted tlie invitation, but modestly declined the offer of a 
conveyance to this country in a United Slates ship of the line. 
He left Havre .July 12, 1824, and after a voyage of 34 days, arrived 
off Sandy Hook quite early in the morning of Sun(la\, August 15. 
Forty thousand people crowded the Battery to cheer and welcome 
his coming. Among the very first to meet and taki- LaFayette 
by the hand, was .Tosejtli Bonaparte, then residing at Bordentown, 
New Jersey, ex-king of Spain, and I)rother of the great Napoleon. 
At 9 o'clock in the morning, a small vessel steamed up to quaran- 
tine to take LaFayette direct to the city, but as it was Sunday 
and he was to have a public reception in New York on the mor- 
row he declined to go, but, instead, went straightway 
to the residence of Vice President Daniel D. Tompkins on Stateu 
Island. It was near forty years since LaFayette had left this 
country, and when his feet once again touched American soil, the 
memories of the past, the great changes since his first coming, came 
rushing to the front in the thoughts of the thronging multitude 
who witnessed his landing, and the emotions were loo great for 
suppression — too great to find utterance, except by salutes from all 
the ships in the harbor, the roaring of cannon, the ringing of bells 
and the loud acclaim of the people that the illustrious guest of the 
nation might receive a joyous and universal welcome. Nothing 
like it had ever before'been witnessed on this continent. In the 
afternoon a vessel steamed over to Staten Island, taking a deputa- 
tion from the common council of New York and a number of offi- 
cers and soldiers of the revolutionary army, who had served under 
or with LaFayette. Among the number was Col. Willett. 
Those two became acquainted in 1778, while with Washington in 
the Jerseys and at the battle of Monmouth on June 28 of that 
year. A correspondence had been kept up between them subse- 
quent to the close of the war, and many of LaFayette's letters are 
now in possession of the youngest son of Col. Willett and are in an 
excellent state of j)reservation and show, in their perfect legibility 
and neatness, the care with which 'LaFayette's correspondence 
was always conducted. The English of the letters is faultless iu 
construction and orthography. For the purpose of preservation, 
and as showing the strong friendshij) existing between those two 



44 COL. MARIIS'US WILLETT. 

soldier?, I herewith copj^ the whole of one letter and extracts from 
others: 

Paris. July i:J. 1822. 
My Dear Sir : 

I avail mysi'lf of a good opportunity 1o remind you ol youi' old friend and 
fellow-soldier in whose heart no time or distance can abate the patriotic re- 
membrance and personal affections of our Revolutionary career. We remain-' 
but two survivors of that glorious epoch in which the fate of the two hemis- 
pheres has been decided. It is an additional reason to cherish more and more 
the ties of brotherly friendship which unite us. I find mys«»lf again engaged 
in a critical struggle between right and jirivilege. 

May it be in my power before T join our (lejjarted companions to visit such 
of them as are still inhabitants of the Luiited States and to tell you person- 
ally my dear Willett. how affectionately I am 

Your sincere friend 

LaPayette. 

Under date of July 1, 1S24, a short time before LaFayette- 
sailed from Europe he wrote Col. Willett in which he says: "The 
time most happy to me approaches Avhen I shall embrace my old 
friend and brother soldiers," and concludes, "most truly and affec- 
tionately yours, LaFayette." 

Under date of April 12, 182G, after his return to France, he 
"writes : " Happy I am in every opportunity to renew and to form 
American connections. In so ]>leasino^ company T enjoy those 
feelings of American homo Avhich were never obliterated in my 
mind. Be pleased dear Willett, to let me hear from you and of 
the state of your health. Present my affectionate res>ards tirst in 
your house, then to your neighbors and to all our military com- 
panions and other friends in New York. Ever truly and affec- 
tionately your old friend and br;)ther in arms, LaFayette." 

Under date of April 6, 1828, he writes : " My dear Willett : It 
is fit I should present to our senior revolutionary comrade a son 
of the illustrious and unfortunate Marshal Ney, who intends to 
visit the United States. I doubly rejoice in every opportunity to 
hear from you and to offer the best wishes and tender regards of 
your affectioviate brother soldier, LaFayette." 

Under date of Christmas, 1828, he writes again and concludes 
his letter as follows: 

Be pleased to remember me most affectionately to all our dear comrades ia 
New York and vicinity and to your family knowing mc to be forever 
Your affectionate friend luid l>rother in arms. 

LaFayette. 
Col. Willett. 



ADDKESS OF D. E. WAGER. 45 

Tlie meeting between LaFayette and Col. Wilk\tt, at the bouse 
of Vice President Tompkins is described by an eye-witness as 
extremely affectionate and touching. They embraced and kissed 
each other over and over again, like devoted lovers, and LaFayette 
talking to Col. Willett very tenderly. The former was then sixty- 
seven years old, and Col. Willett eighty-four. During the time 
LaFayette was in New York he was a frequent visitor at Col. 
Willett's residence, and the two were as mucli together as LaFay- 
ette could find time to spare from the receptions and ovations 
almost constantly awaiting him. On Friday, August 20th, the 
nation's guest left New York for Boston, in a coach drawn by four 
white horses, accompanied by numerous delegations and escorted 
by the military. That same eye-witness, who describes that visit 
of LaFayette, says that the cavalcade which escorted him from 
the city, passed in i"ts route fields of cabbages, and other agri- 
cultural products then growing upon the site now occupied by 
the Fifth Avenue Hotel. Those yet alive, whose memories go 
back sixty-five years, may remember LaFayette's tour through 
this valley in 1825. 

The legislature of New York, by an act })assed in October, 1779, 
attainted fifty-eight persons (three of whom were ladies) of treason, 
and confiscated their property. x\mong the number was John 
Tabor Kempe, the last Tory Attorney General of New York, and 
then the owner of one-sixteenth of Coxe's Patent, or tract of 
47,000 acres, which stretches across Avhat are now Rome, Westmore- 
land, Whitestown, Kirkland, New Hartford, Marshall, Paris and 
Bridgewater, in Oneida county. His wife before marriage was 
Grace Coxe, one of the patentees and also part owner of that 
patent. On a subdivision of that patent and a sale of Mr. Kempe's 
share under that confiscation act, George Washington, Governor 
George Clinton and Col. Willett became owners of land in the 
patent. Col. Willett became purchaser, in August, 1784, of over 
seven hundred acres, part of it not far from Hampton village in 
Westmoreland. Alex. Parkman, who moved into that town in 
1790, obtained title to one hundred acres from Col. Willett. The 
latter was also the owner of two thousand acres, known as "Wil- 
lett's patent," in the north part of the town of Steuben, in this 
county, next to the Ava town line; he, with Elias Van Benscoten, 
owned fifteen hundred acres in the town of Ava, next north of 
above two thousand acre tract, and called "Willett's small 
patent." Col. Willett also owned lauds in Bayard's patent and iu 



4G COL. MAlJINUl-; WILLEIT. 

Twenty Township tract, Chenango county, hence, it is evident' 
Oneida county people should be farther attracted and drawn 
toward one who was largely interested in lands in this county 
and vicinity so soon after the revolution, and fourteen years be- 
fore Oneida county was organized. 

Not long after the close of tlie revolutionary war, and probably 
within the last decade of the last century, Col. Willett purchased^ 
for a homestead, a large parcel of vacant ground in what is now 
the thirteenth ward of New Yoric city, near Corlear's Hook, ex- 
tending from East River to what is now Willett street on the west. 
It is bounded northerly by DeLancey and southerly by Broome 
street. It was then quite out of the city and far into the suburbs. 
A long range of hillg loomed up between that purchase and 
Broadway, so that a sight of the then seeming busy city was shut 
out from the view, and a long space of vacant ground intervened 
and had to be traversed before schools, churches and the marts of 
trade were reached from that homestead. The land toward East 
River was shelving, so that the rushing waters made frequent 
inroads and gradual encroachments upon the lower portions, to 
obviate which the dirt from the range of hills in front was, in due 
time, moved to the rear of the lot next to the river, and in that 
way the waves were stayed and a fine water frontage created. 
To improve and naake that home pleasant and attractive. Col. 
Willett expended much money and labor, and many years of his 
life. The grounds were tastefully laid out into a garden, walks, 
carriagewa3's and arbors, with fruit and shade trees planted upon 
and around the enclosure. A long row of poplars fringed the 
garden on one side, while cedar and other evergreens embellished 
or shaded the walks and other parts of the grounds. These trees 
were planted some years before the present century, for the eldest 
son alive of Col. Willett, now eighty-seven, writes me they were 
full grown at his earliest recollection. Not far from the center of 
those grounds the owner built a large, commodious and roomy 
dwelling, and there, for over a quarter of a century, he entertained 
his numerous visitors and callers, with a welcome and a generous 
hospitality, that no one knows better, if so well, how to extend, 
than an army officer who has seen much of the world ; ^there too, he 
furnished a home and a cordial welcome to dependent relatives, to 
whom he was all that the most kind and indulgent parent could 
be. Although not a millionaire, yet he was in comfortable cir- 
cumstances, kept his horses and carriage, lived generously foir 



ADDRESS OF D. E. AVAGER. 47 

tbose times, all of which could be done in those days of frugality 
and simplicity, on an income of five or six thousand dollars a year. 
One day last summer that eldest son crossed over from Jersey 
City to revisit the scenes of his childhood, that he might give a 
better description for this paper prepared in memory of his father, 
of that old homestead and of the grounds where his feet rambled 
when a boy. But indeed how changed; seven or eight busy 
streets now cross those grounds, while the site of the garden, the 
walks, the' carriage-ways, the trees, the arbors, is now occupied 
by solid brick structures like Hoe's Printing Press Works, large 
Catholic Church, and buildings of that description; yet in his 
mind's eye he again saw the home as it was early in the present 
century, the long range of hills, over which he climbed on his way 
to school, the play ground, the boys of his youth, the fruit trees 
which yielded profusely, the large favorite cherry tree, capable of 
holding a small army of boys upon ^its huge and wide spreading 
branches, stood out a conspicuous figure as he looked back over 
the vista of years; many an afternoon in summer at the close of 
school, a hundred boys could be found ensconced in that generons 
tree, partaking of its seeming inexhaustible supply, with a zest 
and a relish that no one can enjoy so well as a schoolboy. He of 
all others, in that great city, was probably the only survivor who 
could remember, in all its details, those groimds as they were years 
ago. During Col. Willett's residence there and for years there- 
after that old homestead was widely known as "Cedar Grove" or 
"The Willett Place." 

In 1783, Col. Willett was among the active persons who 
formed tlic Society of Cincinnati, having for its object 
the promotion of brotherly feeling among the officers who 
served in the war of the revolution. When LaFayette visited 
this country in 1824, he was the only surviving major general 
who belonged to that society, so too, Col. Willett was a member of 
the Tammany society, formed about the same time, more for the 
purpose, however, of keeping in check the apprehended tendency 
of the government to monarchy; not until many years later, did it 
become an organization to promote the success of a political party. 

Col. Willett was three times married. The first marriage was 
to Mary Pease in April, 1760, before he was quite twenty years of 
age. By that marriage one son was born, who became a noted 
surgeon in the United States army, and who died unmarried. 
Unto the second marriage no children were born. The third wife 



48 COL. MARINUS WILLETT. 

vas Margaretta Bancker, married not far from 1800; by her he 
had four children. The eldest son, Marinus, was a physician, and 
married and had children ; he is now deceased. William M. was 
the second son by that marriage; married and now eighty-seven 
years old, and living in Jersey City, a retired divine of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church ; was a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
General Conference in 1826; later, an instructor in Hebrew and 
Biblical literature in Wesleyan University and editor. In 1843 he 
founded the Biblical Institute in Vermont, of which he was presi- 
dent until 1848. Edward, the other son, is a lawyer by profession, 
now eighty-six years old, and residing at Brook Green, S, C. The 
fourth child was Margaretta, who married James H. Ray and died 
years ago. The widow of Col. Willett died in 1867, at the age of 
ninety-six. 

Col. Willett was tall, erect, commanding figure, finely propor- 
tioned, with the air and build of a military man. His face was 
handsome, his eyes blue, his countenance very pleasing and at- 
tractive, and his manners those of a courteous and cultivated 
gentleman. One of his fall length portraits, taken when he was 
thirty-five years old, in continental uniform, by Trumbull, is now 
in possession of his youngest son, as are the sword and hanger 
worn by Col. Willett during the war. A portrait of Col. Willett 
is shown on page 272 of Lossing's History of the Empire State. 
Col. Willett was a plain, blunt man, outspoken, perfectly fearless, 
a hater of all shams and an enthusiastic patriot. His acquaintance 
and correspondence with the prominent men of his day were ex- 
tensive. His son has dozens of letters to his father from Governor 
Clinton, Aaron Burr, LaFayette, Lord Stirling, and men of like 
character. He and Burr were in early times intimate friends, but 
after the duel with Hamilton, and Burr's trial for treason, they 
lived to meet and pass each other on the street without recognition. 
Col. Willett admired the political writings of Thomas Paine, but 
after the publication of "Paine's Age of Reason" his works were 
altogether discarded by Willett. He was a faithful attendant at 
the Protestant Episcopal Church, (St. Stephen's), then located on 
Christie street, one block from the Bowery, and about a mile from 
Col. Willett's residence. 

In a foot note in Lossing's Empire State it is stated Col. Willett 
graduated from King's, now Columbia College. This may admit 
of some doubt, when it is remembered that Col. Willett entered 
the army before he was eighteen, and married before he was 
twenty. Nevertheless he was a person of unusually strong mind, 



ADDRESS OF D. E. WAGER. 49 

strongthcned by observation and extensive reading. His corres- 
pondence and otficial array reports are clear and marlced with 
accuracy and precision. As a public speaker he was a model. 
The fact that Col. Gansevoort deputed hitn to reply to St. Leger's 
demand for the surrender of Fort Stanwix, indicates thit his 
ability in that line was recognized by the commanding officer. 
That speech deserves a place in every history and rhetorical school 
book in the land, alongside of Patrick Henry's " Give me liberty, 
or give me death." 

Among the last public acts of Col. Willett were, in 1824, while 
acting as chairman of the Greek committee, presidential elector, 
nnd welcoming LaFayette. During the last few years of his life 
he mingled but little in public affairs and with the outside world; 
surrounded by his family and immediate friends, he yielded 
slowly, but not reluctantly, to the gradual progress of decay. 
He had outlived his generation, and passed his fourscore years; 
his mind was constantly fixed upon the approaching change with 
trust and entire resignation; with the greatest humility, but at the 
same time with the liveliest feelings of piety. A few months 
before his death he was attacked with paralysis, from which he 
recovered; yet his body and constitution were much enfeebled by 
the stroke; medicine had to be frequently resorted to; the 
absence of his regular physician, in one of his attacks, induced 
him to neglect the usual remedies, and he was so severely attacked 
that his strength wasted rapidly away. 

On Sunday, August 22, 1830, the fifty-third anniversary of the 
abandonment of the siege of Fort Stanwix, Col. Willett passed 
peacefully away — twenty-two days past his ninetieth birthday. 

It is related, that as the shadows of death were curtaining the 
earthly vision of Stonewall Jackson, he, in the delirium of his dy- 
ing, was again in ihe roar of battle, and amid the clangor of arms, 
and called out — "Order A.F.Hill to prepare for action. Pass 
the infantry to the front rapidly. Tell Major Hawkes" — then he 
stopped, leaving the sentence unfinished. Presently a smile of in- 
effable sweetness spreid itself over his wan face, "as if his soul 
had seen a vision," and then he said calmly and quietly, " let us 
cross over the river, and rest under the shade of the trees;" then 
without pain or a struggle, his spirit passed peacefully away. Col. 
Willett had been amid scenes of carnage and bloodshed; he had 
lived in turbulent times, and been exposed to innumerable perils; 
he had braved dangers, faced death, escaped the hissing bullet, 
the poisoned arrow, the glittering tomahawk, and the murderous 



50 COL. MAEINUS WILLETT, 

scalping knife, and survived to the grand old age of 90, to receive 
the homage and plaudits of a grateful people, and to die at last 
surrounded by his family and friends. He too, crossed over the 
river, and rested under the shade of the trees. His death cast a 
deep gloom over the whole city, and called forth deep and heart- 
felt expressions of sorrow. The Common Council of New York, 
the Court of Errors, then in session in that city, the society of 
Cincinnati, and other public bodies passed suitable resolutions, and 
resolved to attend his funeral in a body. The military of the city 
directed that appropriate honors should be paid at the interment, 
and that minute guns should bs fired, corresponding with his age. 

The public journals of the day, not in New York alone, but 
throughout the country, paid handsome and well-deserved tributes 
to his memory. The remains were enclosed in a cedar coffin, 
which the deceased had prepared ten years before ; at his own re- 
quest the body was habitated in his ordinary dress and wiih his 
hat on, as he was accustomed to be seen in the street. The coffined 
remains were placed in an arbor upon the grounds of the old 
homestead on the day of the funeral, that all who chose might 
take a farewell look. It was estimated that over ten thousand 
persons availed themselves of the opportunity. The funeral took 
place in the afternoon of Tuesdaj-, August 24, at which officiated 
Rev. Dr. DeVYitt, a son of an old officer of the revolution under 
Col. Willett. The procession started at 4 P. M. for the place of 
burial, and it extended from Broome street to Trinity Clmrch yard, 
where the remains were to be interred. It was after dark before 
the grave was reached and by the light of torches all that was 
earthly of Col. Marinus Willett was lowered to his last resting 
place amid the firipg of guns, the strains of martial music and the 
sorrows of millions of his admiring countrymen. 

Other heroes of the revolution may stand out more prominent- 
ly on the pages of recorded history; other namas may be perpet- 
uated in poetry and song, in flowing numbers and in brighter colors ; 
other men may be kept alive in the world's remembrance by 
lettered inscriptions, of their heroic deeds emblazoned tipon chis- 
eled marble or sculptured monuments, but none who lived in the 
trying and troublous times of Col. Willett more faithfully or 
efficiently than he, and certainly none within the county of Tryon, 
performed the important work assigned to him, which in the re- 
sult worked out the grand problem of his country's destiny. He 
was a fearless leader, an enthusiastic patriot, a worthy citizen and 
an uncompromising friend of the rights of man, 

12-54 



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